APA – Ouagadougou (Burkina-Faso) – The Nigerien junta has made contact with the ruling military in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Late on Wednesday afternoon, the President of Burkina Faso’s Transition received a delegation from Niger’s Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la Patrie (National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland, CNSP) led by Lieutenant General Salifou Modi, the Presidency of Faso reports.
It adds that discussions with the President of the Transition focused on the situation in Niger, which is calm and under control, according to the head of the delegation.
“We also talked about support. It has to be said that we have received very strong support from Burkina Faso. As you know, a number of ECOWAS countries have decided to apply severe sanctions against Niger,” points out the number two in the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), which overthrew Mohamed Bazoum’s regime on Wednesday 26 July. At an extraordinary summit last Sunday, West African leaders decided to impose economic and financial sanctions on Niger.
General Modi said he had also discussed the threat of military intervention by the regional institution.
“During our discussions, we talked specifically about this situation, because we do not want Niger to become a new Libya,” the head of the delegation says, adding that the efforts will be combined to avoid this situation. ECOWAS has given the new authorities in Niamey one week to free and reinstate Mohamed Bazoum as president; and is not ruling out the use of force if their demands are not met.
On Monday, Burkina Faso and Mali threatened to leave ECOWAS if the regional organization intervened militarily in Niger, a situation that would be tantamount to a declaration of war against the two countries as well.
“In coordination with our brothers in Burkina Faso, we have decided to undertake a number of activities to secure our populations and our two countries,” added the head of the CNSP delegation.
In his declaration of assumption of power last Friday, General Tchiani called for closer ties with Burkina Faso and Mali to better deal with armed terrorist groups.
Burkina hoped for “closer and sovereign cooperation” with the new Niger authorities.
SD/ac/fss/abj/APA