West African summit on Niger coup weighs diplomacy against intervention
After a summit of its heads of state in the Nigerian capital Abuja, the bloc pledged to enforce sanctions, travel bans and asset freezes on those preventing the return to power of democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
After Tinubu spoke, an official communique was read out which included a resolution asking the bloc's defence chiefs to "activate the ECOWAS Standby Force with all its elements immediately". The ECOWAS statement did not spell out how the force would be funded, which countries would participate or how many troops and what hardware they could contribute.
The bloc is split, however, with suspended member states Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by army governments that seized power in coups in the past two years, siding with the Niger junta and vowing to defend it. Hours before the summit in Abuja, they named a new government in an apparent move to entrench their position and present themselves as a legitimate government for Niger after the July 26 coup.
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