Niger’s ruling military has agreed to terms and conditions of a transition back to civilian rule and will present the plan to a regional bloc, the lead diplomat from mediator Togo announced on Thursday.
Speaking on Niger’s national television, Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Dussey said that he had reached an agreement “on the content and timing of the transition” with Niger’s junta-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bakary Yaou Sangare.
“We are ready to present the plan ... to the mediating heads of state and the ECOWAS Commission,” he said, referring to the Economic Community of West African States.
Photo: AFP
After Niger became the latest country in the Sahel to experience a coup with July’s ouster of then-Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum, the regional grouping imposed sanctions and suspended trade, while also floating the option of military intervention.
The sanctions and suspension of international finance and aid have left Niger, already one of the world’s poorest countries, economically hanging by a thread.
In October, the military leaders announced a 40 percent cut in the budget due to the “heavy sanctions imposed by international and regional organizations.”
On Sunday last week, ECOWAS leaders in Abuja said that any easing of the punitive measures against Niger was contingent on a “short transition” period.
The bloc also decided that a committee made up of the presidents of Benin, Togo and Sierra Leone would lead negotiations with the Nigerien military leaders on the commitments to be implemented.
Niger broadcaster Tele Sahel reported that Dussey would return to Niamey in January with his counterpart from Sierra Leone, Timothy Kabba.
ECOWAS on Thursday said that Niger is now “suspended from all decisionmaking bodies” of the organization, “until constitutional order is re-established.”
Niger’s military leaders have previously said they want up to three years for a transition back to civilian rule.
Since the coup, Niger — one of the Sahel nations battling insurgencies by rebels affiliated with al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group — has rolled back security cooperation with Western partners and expelled French troops based there.
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