ECOWAS leaders convene in Abuja amidst ongoing coup attempts in the region

Leaders from West Africa will convene on Sunday to discuss the region’s worsening crises, which includes four new countries coming under military control and increasing concerns due to jihadist battles in the Sahel.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) group has seen attempted coups in recent weeks in Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone, following coups in 2020 in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger.

A military pullout by France from the Sahel, an area of Africa along the Sahara desert, is raising fears that hostilities may expand south to the Gulf of Guinea republics of Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Ivory Coast.

ECOWAS commission president Omar Touray stated in a meeting held prior to the summit that “these military coups are not only based on fake narrative and false justifications; they are also a driver of insecurity in the region.”

The leaders of ECOWAS will gather for a routine summit in Abuja, Nigeria, where they will talk about postponing Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Niger’s return to civilian governance.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the president of Nigeria, serves as both the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and the chair of ECOWAS. In order to explore how to promote Niger’s return to democratic governance and Sahelian security, Molly Phee will also be present at the meeting.

While the US still maintains military personnel in the nation, Niger, a crucial ally of the West in the war against extremists in the Sahel, has demanded that French troops stationed there depart.

READ ALSO: Guinea-Bissau president claims there was an attempted coup

After President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown by military forces in Niger in July, ECOWAS countries placed severe economic sanctions on the regime.

Bazoum’s quick restoration to the presidency has been urged by mediator ECOWAS, but the military junta has kept him in custody and has stated that a return to civilian administration may take up to three years.

In an effort to start negotiations on easing sanctions, Nigeria announced earlier this month that it was requesting that Bazoum be released from the Niger regime and let to travel to a third nation.

However, the military authorities of Niger turned down that proposal and have requested that President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo serve as a mediator.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of Niger’s armed forces, travelled to Togo on Friday along with a few of his ministers prior to the ECOWAS summit on Sunday.

The last resort that ECOWAS has left open is a military involvement in Niger, though observers think it seems less and less likely.

Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea have also had delays or uncertainty in their return to democracy and elections.

Following the withdrawal of French troops from the area, the military regimes in Niger, Mali, and Burkina strengthened their defences and united as the Alliance of Sahel States to confront the threat posed by Islamist violence.

In what the government dubbed a coup attempt last month, armed attackers broke into police stations, jails, and military sites in Sierra Leone, another ECOWAS member. Twenty-one people were killed in the incident.

A week later, violence between the presidential guard’s special troops and the national guard was reported as part of an attempted coup in Guinea-Bissau as well.

AFP