In response to military threats from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the coup plotters in the Republic of Niger have asked Russia for assistance, and a conflict is now imminent.
The regional organization, which has the support of Western nations and the UN, has given the military junta a seven-day deadline to recognize President Mohamed Bazoum as the legitimately elected leader of the country or face a slew of harsh measures.
But Niger Republic’s military leaders in a statement read on Niger national television warned ECOWAS not to send troops to their country, saying it is an attempt to start a war against Niger.
“The objective of the ECOWAS meeting is to approve a plan of aggression against Niger through an imminent military intervention in Niamey in collaboration with other African countries that are non-members of ECOWAS, and certain Western countries,” Aljazeera quoted the military spokesman, Colonel Amadou Abduramane, to have said.
Abduramane called on Russia to help Niger with soldiers and equipment.
He said they were ready to defend their country from the attacks that he suspected ECOWAS would launch on the country.
He also called on the citizens to come out and hold a demonstration to support them.
Russia has troops in Mali, a neighbour of Niger, which has caused France and the United Nations to withdraw their peacekeeping troops from the country.
Russia’s Wagner mercenary boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who remains active despite leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass last month, has hailed the coup as good news and offered his fighters’ services to bring order.
Niger has been a security partner of France, and the United States, which have used it as a base to fight an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa’s wider Sahel region.
____
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2023 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
