Niger's junta has defied a Sunday deadline from West Africa's regional bloc to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum or face a possible military intervention.
for the possible use of force to reverse the July 26 coup, including how and when to deploy forces, raising the spectre of further conflict in a region already struggling with a deadly Islamist insurgency.
Security analysts say the details of a big operation could take weeks to pull together, and that an invasion carries huge risk, including getting caught up in a drawn-out conflict andserved as battalion commander for ECOWAS peacekeepers in Ivory Coast after a ceasefire between government and rebel forces in 2003, so he knows what intervention missions involve."If they don’t go in, it will be a major problem of credibility.
Risks still abound, though. Foreign troops guarding sites in the centre of the capital Niamey could trigger violence in a city where hundreds have taken to the streets in support of the coup - and against foreign interference.Niger is a huge, ethnically diverse country, and Bazoum won the 2021 election with 56% of the vote. It is not yet clear how much support various groups will give the new leaders.
That said, it could still decide to continue sanctions, hold off on intervening militarily and instead call for a return to civilian rule after elections. The junta has said it is willing to discuss that, without indicating a timeframe.
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