Mali and Burkina Faso have dispatched warplanes to Niger Republic following the arrival of former Nigeria’s Head of State Abdulsalami Abubakar-led Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) delegation in Naimey.
ECOWAS delegation had arrived in the capital Niamey around 1:00 p.m. (1200 GMT) for final deliberations with the military junta led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, when news of a purported mutiny broke.
The ECOWAS delegation which had the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar on its team was joined by United Nations Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simao, who arrived on Friday.
The delegation arrived after the region’s defence chiefs said they were ready to intervene to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
Unfazed by the ECOWAS Military Chiefs’ threat of possible intervention in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali – which are under military rulers deployed war planes to Niger’s borders on Friday.
“Mali and Burkina Faso turned their commitments into concrete action by deploying warplanes to respond to any attack on Niger,” it said, noting the planes were Super Tucano fighter jets.
The military governments in Mali and Burkina Faso called ECOWAS’s bluff, saying an armed intervention in Niger would be greeted with its firepower.
The television station said the military leaders from Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger convened Friday in the Nigerien capital Niamey to decide on “concrete measures” in case ECOWAS chooses to “escalate a war.”
Meanwhile, Kathleen Fitzgibbons, the new American ambassador to Niger Republic, arrived in Niamey on Saturday.
However, the “current political crisis,” will not permit Fitzgibbons to formally deliver her credentials, according to the U.S. State Department.
President Mohamed Bazoum was deposed on July 26, by the military junta headed by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, who rebuffed appeals for his reinstatement from the African Union, the United Nations, ECOWAS, and other groups.
Fitzgibbons’ arrival in Niger “does not reflect a change in our policy position, but responds to the need for senior leadership of our mission at a challenging time,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
“Fitzgibbons’ diplomatic focus will be to advocate for a diplomatic solution that preserves the constitutional order in Niger and for the immediate release of President Bazoum and his family, and all those unlawfully detained.”
Fitzgibbons, a career diplomat who arrived in Niamey on Saturday, was nominated in May and received confirmation to the position from the U.S. Senate in July.
The ECOWAS Defence chiefs have collectively agreed on a secret “D-Day” for a potential military operation to restore democracy in Niger should diplomatic attempts fail.
The heads of defence for West Africa made this announcement following a two-day conference in Accra, Ghana, where they discussed strategies for military intervention to restore democracy in Niger Republic.
