- Following the latest coup in the Sahel area, which alarmed nations on the continent, West African nations put sanctions on Niger’s new military leaders and threatened to use force if they failed to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum within a week.
- The military has been holding Niger’s elected president and Western friend, Bazoum, since Wednesday in the third attempt to depose a Sahelian leader in as many years.
- The formidable presidential guard’s commander, General Abdourahmane Tiani, has proclaimed himself in charge.
- Bazoum is one of the few remaining elected presidents and pro-Western figures in the Sahel, where armed uprisings that began in 2020 have since led to coups in Mali and Burkina Faso.
- The 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) regional bloc asked on Sunday that Bazoum be reinstated within a week at an emergency conference held in Nigeria. Otherwise, the bloc said it would take “all measures” to restore constitutional order.
- “Such measures may include the use of force for this effect,” it said in a statement, adding that ECOWAS defence chiefs were to meet later on Sunday.
- It was unclear at first how ECOWAS may resort to force. The bloc decided to establish a regional security force last year, but it was unclear how the force would be funded or how it would intervene against members of armed groups.
- Along with imposing financial penalties, the bloc also banned “any economic and financial activities” between its members and Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries that frequently comes in last on the UN’s Human Development Index.