APA – Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) – The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso and Mali, Olivia Rouamba and Abdoulaye Diop, visited Niamey on Thursday, August 24, where they were received by the president of the military junta, General Abdourahamane Tiani, according to a joint press release signed by the three countries.
Brigadier General Abdourahamane Tiani “issued two orders on August 24 authorising the defense and security forces of Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene on the territory of Niger in the event of aggression,” according to the official release.
Niger’s two neighbours “welcomed” the signing of these documents.
Mali and Burkina, also under military regime since August 2020 and January 2022 respectively, expressed their solidarity with the new authorities in Niger following the July 26 coup.
They had threatened to consider any military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to restore constitutional order as a “declaration of war.”
”General Tiani, on his part, assured us on Saturday that such an armed operation “would not be the walk in the park that some people think it would be.”
Also according to the joint communiqué, Burkina, Mali and Niger “reaffirmed their commitment to pool their resources to combat” the armed terrorist groups that have been operating in the sub-region for several years.
To this end, they stressed the need to strengthen mechanisms for cooperation, exchange of information and joint operations in order to be more effective in the face of the actions of terrorist groups, the communiqué said.
As a prelude to a possible Ecowas intervention in the region, the Ecowas Chiefs of Staff met in Accra, Ghana, on August 15 and 16.
At the end of a two-day conclave, the Community institution’s Commissioner for Political Affairs, Security and Peace, Dr. Abdul Fatau Musa, assured them that the day for the start of hostilities had been set and that all that remained was the agreement of West African leaders, who had decided to exhaust all means for a peaceful settlement of the Niger crisis.
A delegation led by former Nigerian President Abdulsalami Abubakar visited Niamey on Saturday, August 17, and met with General Tiani and President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been confined to the presidential palace by the junta since July 26.
In his report to Nigerian President Bola Ahmad Tinubu, who also chairs the Ecowas Conference of Heads of State, Mr. Abubakar said a diplomatic solution was still possible.
Following its meeting on August 14, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council “strongly commended the tireless Ecowas efforts” and asked the Commission to appoint a High Representative “to support the mediation efforts” of the regional body.
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