Ahmed Attaf, the Foreign Minister of neighbouring Algeria, made the suggestion on Tuesday for a six-month transitional plan to restore constitutional and democratic order in Niger following the military’s seizure of power in a coup last month.
After visiting Nigeria, Benin, and Ghana on a diplomatic mission in an effort to mediate a peaceful end to the issue in Niamey and prevent military action, the minister put out the framework.
General Abdourahmane Tchiani, the head of the military government in Niger, is considering handing over control of the West African nation to civilians within a three-year period.
Attaf stated during a news conference in his nation’s capital, Algiers, as reported by AFP, that the “transition period that would last a maximum of three years” can be “completed in six months.”
The senior diplomat claimed that Algeria’s plan consists of six items, one of which is the creation of “political arrangements with the acceptance of all parties in Niger without excluding any party” and within the suggested six-month time frame.
He stated that the procedure would be overseen by a “civilian power led by a consensus figure.”
France reportedly asked Algeria last week if it would for a military action in Niger to take place through its airspace, but Paris has denied that it is even considering such a move. Algeria reportedly rejected the proposal.
The government of Algeria, the biggest country in Africa, has consistently opposed a military intervention that the West African regional grouping ECOWAS, supported by Paris, has threatened to carry out in order to restore Bazoum.
The president of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, has already warned that an armed response to the crisis in Niamey “could ignite the entire Sahel region.”
On Tuesday, his foreign minister repeated the nation’s opposition to using force to overthrow the military administration in Niger, saying that Algiers would not permit such a mission to use its airspace.
According to Attaf, the possibility of a military intervention would have “catastrophic consequences” for the formerly French territory.
The president of Gabon, a country that was once a French colony and is now in Central Africa, President Ali Bongo, was detained on Wednesday after a coup was called by a group of soldiers. President Bongo had just been declared the victor of a recent election.
