Niger Coup: Adopt Diplomacy, Not Military Intervention, ECOWAS Told

• World Peace Programme urges President Tinubu to resolve Niger Republic’s political situation through diplomacy, cautioning against military intervention
• Dr. Stella-Rita Asogwa warns military action could lead to civilian harm, collateral damage, and ideological conflicts involving world powers

The World Peace Programme for Sustainable Development Network has advised the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to use diplomacy, deliberation, negotiations, and compromise to resolve the political quagmire in Niger Republic rather than a military approach.

Dr Stella-Rita Awelle Nwachukwu Asogwa, the network’s director of diplomatic relations and women affairs, advised during an interview with newsmen in Abuja.

She warned that deploying military forces could jeopardize the rights of innocent civilians in Niger Republic and have long-term dire consequences for Nigeria and West Africa as a whole, even as she condemned the military’s action against the country’s democratically elected president and called for an immediate return to democratic governance in Niger.

Dr Stella-Rita praised the ECOWAS leadership’s progress on the issue, but warned that “military intervention may result in collateral damages, killing of unarmed civilians, destruction of lives and properties, and most likely result in an ideological war involving some world powers against African countries.”

In restoring democracy, ECOWAS should consider the immediate and long-term implications of its actions on the people of the Niger Republic and the wider West African sub-region.

The director general and country representative, Ambassador Professor Olumuyiwa Babalola, recently unveiled the list of the organisation’s peace ambassadors in Abuja to assist the federal government.

ECOWAS defence chiefs meet in Ghana

ECOWAS military leaders are set to convene in Ghana today to deliberate on deploying a standby force to Niger, aimed at restoring constitutional order.

The sub-regional bloc’s heads of state issued an order last week to activate and send this standby force if negotiations with the coup leaders do not succeed.

In a statement from the ECOWAS Commission, the ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff (CCDC) has initiated the activation process for the ECOWAS Standby Force, tasked with reinstating constitutional governance in Niger.

The defence chiefs will assemble in Accra, Ghana over two days (Thursday and Friday) to finalize strategies for deploying the Standby Force. General Abdourahmane Tchiani’s presidential guards apprehended Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26th, leading to the dissolution of the constitution.