The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, is appealing to the media and Civil Society Organisations to support efforts to encourage the Nigerien Junta to accept diplomatic solution to the current impasse.
“I want to appeal to CSOs, Academia and the Media that they assist continuous efforts that will urge the junta to comply with diplomacy, instead of making comments that rather question ECOWAS methods,” he said on Joy FM’s Newsfile programme on Saturday.
ECOWAS has clearly stated that force is the last resort, but wants diplomacy to succeed. Instead of repeated calls on ECOWAS to abandon military intervention alternatives, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah is urging commentators to rather pile pressure on the Military Junta to let diplomacy succeed, so that force will not be necessary.
Barely 24 hours after the end of an ultimatum for a possible military intervention if diplomacy fails, the Niger Coup leaders have now agreed to open up for dialogue. This comes after earlier attempts failed, which prompted meetings by ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence staff on alternative military action, in Accra last week.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah believes conversations and commentary on the matter, especially by Academia, CSOs and the Media should continue to focus on compelling the Junta to take the diplomatic option seriously.
“Though these interventions have been advertised as solutions to the growing terrorist incidents in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the data suggests that Terrorism is getting worse, after these interventions. It is thus important that we shift from the propaganda and work towards the speedy resolution by democratic civilian governments, to provide better structures to stem the tide.” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, Commissioner of Political Affairs of Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), says the sub-regional bloc is not acting on the dictates of any superior power in the deployment of troops to Niger.
“Those who are misinforming the public that ECOWAS is being directed by this power or that power, they are missing the point completely,” he said.
According to him, the troops are being deployed based on ECOWAS law and nothing else.
The ambassador postulated that all interventions in the past were conducted solely on the guiding principles of ECOWAS without the influence of any external power.
“We did it ourselves. So this is no different. We are doing it for ourselves and by ourselves and for prosperity in the ECOWAS sub-region.”
Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah was answering questions from journalists to conclude a 2-day ECOWAS Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff on the deployment of the standby force to Niger in Accra on Friday.
He contended that the standby force is being resourced by commitments made by members to restore constitutional rule in Niger.
“All member states of ECOWAS present here today have all committed elements, they have committed their own equipment and they have committed their own resources to undertake this mission,” he stated.
Ambassador Musah also debunked the argument that the current global economic meltdown should be a decisive factor to deter ECOWAS from the military action, saying that position is neither here or there.
He explained that the position should have rather deterred the military junta from staging the coup in the first place because their action has compounded the economic hardship of the people, due to the ECOWAS sanctions.
Currently, the ECOWAS sanctions are having a toll on economic integration, development, livelihoods, peace and security. He said if nothing is done about the coups plaguing the West African region, they will have more devastating consequences on the economy of the member states.
Terrorists’ activities in the Sahel region
He said until this coup occurred, ECOWAS was on the verge of activating the standby force to help member states in the fight against terrorism.
According to him, ECOWAS was going to fight the insecurity situation in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger before the coup occurred.
The coup is giving oxygen to terrorism activities to thrive in Niger and for which 25 soldiers, including three officers, were killed in an ambush this week.
The deployment will help the military to fully concentrate on its core mandate of providing protection of Niger’s territorial integrity and security as well as overall peace of the region.
Arising humanitarian crisis
With over 25 million population and 700,000 refugees, the likelihood of humanitarian crisis arising out of the invasion by ECOWAS is imminent.
However, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah gave an assurance that all those considerations have been factored into the deployment of the Standby force.
“One of the things we took into account was the potential humanitarian consequences of any intervention and we have given measures to make sure that it doesn’t become unbearable,” he stated.
Diplomacy doors still opened
On Saturday, 19th August, 2023 ECOWAS made a third attempt to engage the junta on the release of President Mohamed Bazoum, his family, as well as members of his cabinet held hostage.
“This is our message to them (junta), that our doors are open but we are not going to engage in endless dialogue, that is why we said all options are on the table,” he added.
