Niger’s new military ruler warned on Saturday that any attack on the country would not be a “walk in the park,” as a delegation from West African countries made a push to find a diplomatic solution following last month’s coup.
General Abdourahamane Tchiani — who took power after army officers toppled Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 — said in a televised address that a transition of power would not go beyond three years.
He added: “If an attack were to be undertaken against us, it will not be the walk in the park some people seem to think.”
Photo: AFP
Tchiani spoke after a delegation from West African bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) visited Niger for a final diplomatic push before deciding whether to take military action against the country’s new military rulers.
They met Bazoum on Saturday, and a source close to ECOWAS said he was “in good spirits.”
Bazoum remains under detention and has been held with his family at the president’s official residence since the coup, with growing international concern over his conditions.
Images on Nigerien television showed Bazoum smiling and shaking hands with members of the delegation, led by former Nigerian head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Television footage also showed Abubakar speaking with Tchiani, but the content of the exchange has not been made public.
In his televised address, Tchiani said that ECOWAS was “getting ready to attack Niger by setting up an occupying army in collaboration with a foreign army,” without saying which country he meant.
He also announced a 30-day period of “national dialogue” to draw up “concrete proposals” to lay the foundations of “a new constitutional life.”
ECOWAS leaders say they have to act after Niger became the fourth West African nation since 2020 to suffer a coup, following Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.
The bloc has agreed to activate a “standby force” as a last resort to restore democracy in Niger.
ECOWAS chair and Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on Friday said Niamey would face “grave consequences” if the new regime allowed Bazoum’s health to worsen, an EU official said.
Niger’s military-appointed prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, told the New York Times that Bazoum would not be harmed.
“Nothing will happen to him, because we don’t have a tradition of violence in Niger,” the most senior civilian in the new regime said.
Thousands of volunteers turned out in central Niamey on Saturday, answering a call to register as civilian auxiliaries who could be mobilized to support the army.
ECOWAS defense chiefs had met this week in Ghana’s capital, Accra, to fine-tune details of a potential military operation to restore Bazoum if ongoing negotiations with coup leaders fail.
“We are ready to go any time the order is given,” Abdel-Fatau Musah, an ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs and security, said on Friday after the military chiefs’ meeting. “The D-Day is also decided.”
The Sahel region is struggling with growing insurgencies linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Frustration over the violence has in part prompted the military takeovers.
ECOWAS troops have intervened in other emergencies since 1990, including civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
However, details of any Niger operation have not been released and analysts say intervention would be politically and militarily risky.
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