West African bloc Ecowas says military intervention in Niger is ‘last resort’

A military intervention in Niger following last week’s coup is “the last option on the table”, the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has said.

Ecowas defence chiefs are meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja between 2 and 4 August.

The bloc confirmed it had sent a delegation to Niger to negotiate with the coup leaders who seized power last week.

Nigeria, West Africa’s largest military and economic power, is the current chair of Ecowas.

The group said on Wednesday that even if military intervention is the last option, the organisation must be ready.

“[A] military option is the very last option on the table, the last resort, but we have to prepare for [that] eventuality,” Abdel-Fatau Musah, Ecowas commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, said.

The Ecowas team in Niger is headed by former Nigerian leader Abdulsalami Abubakar and is there to “negotiate”, added Musah.

Ecowas leaders still hope to reinstate Niger’s president Mohamed Bazoum, 63, who won elections in 2021 in the country’s first-ever peaceful transition of power.

He was overthrown on 26 July when members of his own guard detained him.

An unidentified source confirmed the move an an interview with the French news agency AFP.

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