Niger’s military junta has threatened to kill ousted President Mohamed Bazoum if ECOWAS tries any military intervention to reinstate him.
According to a recent report by The Associated Press, two “Western officials” said the threat was issued by the coup plotters while speaking to a top U.S. diplomat.
Niger is a partner of the US and France and helped counter jihadi violence connected to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group that has murdered thousands and displaced millions of people.
The AP report revealed that a Western military official who spoke on condition of anonymity owing to the sensitivity of the situation said representatives of the junta told the U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her recent visit to the country.
After a meeting of nine leaders from the 15-member West African bloc recently in Abuja, President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, stated he could only reaffirm the decisions by “the military authorities in the sub-region to deploy a standby force of the community.”
He blamed the junta for the hardship caused by the sanctions imposed on Niger and disclosed further actions would be taken jointly by the bloc.
He said: “It is not one country against another country. The community has instruments to which all members have subscribed to.”
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