West African bloc scraps crisis meeting on Niger coup

An emergency meeting between Wester African nations on the coup in Niger has been postponed indefinitely as concerns over the health of detained President Mohammed Bazoum increase.

An emergency meeting between Wester African nations on the coup in Niger has been postponed indefinitely as concerns over the health of detained President Mohammed Bazoum increase.

Members of the Economic Cooperation of West African Nations (ECOWAS) were due to meet in the Ghanaian capital Accra on Saturday to discuss how to tackle the Niger crisis after they approved the deployment of a stand-by force to restore constitutional order.

But the meeting was indefinitely suspended for “technical reasons”. Sources said the meeting was originally set to inform the organisation’s leaders about “the best options” for activating and deploying a military force.

“The military option seriously envisaged by ECOWAS is not a war against Niger and its people but a police operation against hostage-takers and their accomplices,” Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said.

ECOWAS is determined to stop the sixth military takeover in the region in just three years and has severed financial transactions and electricity supplies and closed borders with landlocked Niger, blocking much-needed imports to one of the world’s poorest countries.