APA – Niamey (Niger) – Following his report to the President of Nigeria and current Chairman of ECOWAS on Tuesday, the Community organization’s envoy to Niger, Abdulsalmi Abubakar, said he was optimistic about a peaceful solution to the crisis that has been rocking the country since the events of 26 July 2023.
The ECOWAS mediator was received in audience on Tuesday 22 August 2023 at Aso Rock Villa, the presidential palace, by Bola Ahmad Tinubu, current chairman of ECOWAS, to whom he reported on his mission to Niamey on Saturday 19 August, where he met members of the military junta and former president Bazoum Mohamed.
The meeting took place in the presence of the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr. Omar Aliou Touray, and the National Security Adviser to the Nigerian Head of State, Malam Nuhu Ribadu.
At the end of the meeting, the ECOWAS envoy told the media that he had gone to report on the mission he carried out last weekend in Niger and the discussions he had with members of the Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie (CNSP), the military junta that overthrew President Bazoum.
He recalled that the aim of the mission entrusted to him by the Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS is to find a peaceful solution to the political crisis currently affecting the country. “I must say that our visit to Niger has been very fruitful and that it has opened the way for discussions to begin, and I hope that we will arrive at something,” General Abubakar said, adding that these are just the beginnings of negotiations between the Nigerien military authorities and ECOWAS.
“We have begun discussions and they have put forward their own arguments, which I have just reported to the Chairman of the ECOWAS Heads of State. He will now consult his colleagues. We hope that diplomacy will prevail, because the war that West African leaders are contemplating if negotiations fail is in nobody’s interest,” said the ECOWAS mediator, who expressed optimism that a peaceful solution to the crisis in Niger will be found.
ECOWAS and the AU call for a rapid and unconditional return to constitutional order
Last Saturday, the former Nigerian president, Abdulsalami Abubakar, was in Niamey at the head of a mediation delegation during which he held talks with the president of the transition, Brigadier General Abdourahamane Tiani.
The delegation, which also included the President of the ECOWAS Commission and the Sultan of Sokoto, Nigeria, was able to visit and hold talks with President Bazoum, who is still being held with his family in the presidential residence since the coup d’état on 26 July. Nothing came of the discussions.
That same evening, while the ECOWAS emissaries were still in the Nigerian capital, General Tiani delivered a message to the nation in which he announced the convening of an “inclusive national dialogue” to decide on the broad outlines of a transition that would last no more than three years. This proposal was immediately rejected by ECOWAS through its Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Abdul Fatau Musah, who instead reaffirmed the organization’s firm call on the junta to restore constitutional order and reinstate President Bazoum.
In a communiqué issued on Tuesday 22 August 2023, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) finally unveiled its conclusions from the emergency meeting it held on 14 August on the situation in Niger. In addition to the immediate suspension of the country from its authorities until constitutional order is restored, the PSC “welcomed” the communiqués issued at the extraordinary sessions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on 30 July and 10 August on the situation in Niger.
The pan-African organization’s conflict prevention and resolution body also said it “takes note of the decision by ECOWAS to deploy a standby force,” but nevertheless asked the AU Commission to assess the “economic, social and security implications of the deployment and report back to the Council.”
The PSC also welcomed and supported “the tireless efforts of ECOWAS” and asked the AU Commission to appoint a High Representative “to encourage ECOWAS’s mediation efforts.”
AYB/ac/fss/abj/APA