- As West African heads of state chose to activate their standby force to intervene in the Niger coup, many in the region are questioning the credibility of the bloc known as ECOWAS to keep peace across the region
By Yousra Elbagir, Africa Correspondent, Sky News @YousraElbagir
Despite sanctions pushing food prices up by 60% and triggering 10-hour long electricity cuts, Niger’s junta has doubled down and announced a 21-member cabinet to govern the country.
In response, the diplomatic bloc in the region has upped the ante on military preparations and activated its standby army.
Since seizing power two weeks ago, the coup leaders have exposed the limitations of regional and Western diplomacy in influencing the outcome of domestic African affairs.
It is a massive threat to the ruling elite of Niger’s neighbouring countries, who convened on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria, to address the ongoing crisis and decided to push forward with possible military intervention.
Four of the 15 countries in the regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), are now coup-ridden: Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and now, Niger.
In 2022, when Burkina Faso experienced not one but two consecutive military coups, ECOWAS suspended the country’s membership and issued a 24-month deadline for the coup to be reversed.
But less than two years later, Niger’s coup has triggered a far harsher response that feels fuelled by the fear of contagion.
ECOWAS is currently led by Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who in May 2023 was inaugurated as president of Nigeria, which borders Niger to the south and is the most populous country in the block.
Mr Tinubu’s election in February was highly contested and described as rigged by Nigerian civic society.
In recent weeks, Nigerians have been marching across the country protesting against the rising cost of living and lack of social welfare.
In a country with a history of military dictatorship, President Tinubu relies on Nigeria’s constitution to protect his seat of power.
After threatening potential military intervention and issuing a week-long deadline that was defied by Niger’s junta leaders, President Tinubu opened the ECOWAS summit with a bid for dialogue and described the coup as a threat to the stability of the West African region.
“It is our duty to exhaust all avenues of engagement to ensure a swift return to constitutional governance in Niger,” he said before closing the meeting.
What is ECOWAS?
Standing for the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS is a trade bloc consisting of West African nations.
Set up in 1975, and headquartered in Nigeria, its main aim is to make its member states, the majority of which are former French, British and Portuguese colonies, self-sufficient.
But ECOWAS also serves as a peacekeeping force in the region, with members able to send joint forces to intervene at times of unrest.
Though the bloc currently has 15 members, four countries, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger, are currently suspended following military coups.
Afterwards, a communique was read out announcing the activation of ECOWAS’s standby force. This means troops into barracks, a few steps from deployment.
This reaction has been condemned as an attack on Niger’s sovereignty, with propaganda circulating describing ECOWAS as a pawn of the West.
Criticism has also come from citizens of neighbouring countries run by military juntas.
“Here in Ouagadougou the people are critical of the steps that ECOWAS has taken,” says Aicha Maiga, a journalist from Burkina Faso.
“They have no credibility anymore. ECOWAS is receiving its insults here. People feel it is not a patriotic organisation.”
As ECOWAS loses credibility and public favour, the prospect of peaceful regional regulation of power grabs is more limited than ever.
And with their hard-line approach, the West African heads of state gathered in Abuja today have shown they will escalate rather than wait to see who might fall next.