West African countries have given the go-ahead to start a military intervention in Niger against the government resulting from the coup “as soon as possible,” the president of the Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, reported Thursday.
“The chiefs of staff will hold other meetings to agree on the details, but they have the go-ahead (…) of the heads of state to Let the operation start as soon as possible.”declared Ouattara in Abidjan, after participating in Abuja (Nigeria) in a summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Early Thursday, the bloc’s leaders said they would deploy a “reserve force.” against the military leaders who took control of Niger, deposing Mohamed Bazoum as president.
Ouattara said the Ivory Coast would contribute a battalion of 850 to 1,100 men along with soldiers from Nigeria and Benin, and that other countries would join them.
“We are determined to reinstate President Bazoum in his functions”he claimed.
Before leaving the summit in Abuja (Nigeria), Ouattara had told journalists that ECOWAS “has intervened in the past, in Liberia, in Sierra Leone, in the Gambia and in Guinea-Bissau” when the constitutional order of the countries was threatened. “Today we have a similar situation in Niger, and I want to say that ECOWAS cannot accept this.”
DEVELOPING…
Keep reading:
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The United States assured that diplomacy is “the preferable means” to solve the crisis in Niger
Why Niger’s nightmare is a global problem
Source-www.infobae.com