West African bloc plans possible Niger military intervention

West African nations on Friday worked on plans for a possible military intervention in Niger the regional block also pledged to enforce sanctions travel bans and asset freezes under Junta which ousted former president Mohammed bazoom on July 26 after a summit of its heads of state ecowas ordered the activation of a standby Force for possible use against the Junta it said it had not given up hope of a peaceful resolution to the crisis but that all options including military action were possible Nigeria's president bolatinubu are you received from the community of this extraordinary Summit that's no option is thinking of the table including the use of force as a last result it is not clear how big the force would be if it would actually invade and which countries would contribute security analysts said Eco was forced to take weeks or longer to assemble potentially leaving room for negotiations the Junta has said it would defend the country against any foreign attack director of strategic stabilization advisors Anneliese Bernard spoke to Reuters from California so there's still a lot of unknowns but this is a significant next step and certainly an escalation of tensions at least between the regional block and the hunza block that seems to be forming right now between Molly Burkina Faso and you share specifically in the capital Miami residents condemned the military intervention plan this is an acts of aggression and we call on the legitimate authorities the members of the cnsp to consider it an act of War an act of aggression and to respond with Force ecowas needs to understand what the people of the various member countries expect of it what is expected of ecowas is to attack the causes of coup d'etat not the consequences the European Union and the United States reiterated concern about the conditions under which bazoom and his family were being detained uranium-rich Niger is a key Ally for the west and the fight against islamist militants in the sale region until the coup it was also aligned with the West after neighboring Mali and others turned against former colonial power France in favor of closer ties with Russia France said late on Thursday it fully backed all the conclusions of ecowas meeting but it stayed clear of outlining any concrete support it could give to any potential intervention

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Length: 2min 50sec (170 seconds)

Published: Fri Aug 11 2023