According to a health ministry official, border bans imposed by a regional union have left medical supplies intended for the West African nation stranded.
According to RIA Novosti on Monday, quoting a ministry of health official, Niger is experiencing a severe medication scarcity as a result of sanctions put in place by the West African regional organisation ECOWAS in reaction to a coup in July.
Niger is running out of antibiotics as well as medications used to treat cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, according to Ibrahim Sule, secretary general of the African nation’s health ministry, who spoke to RIA.
“Pharmaceutical goods bound for Niger are held up at the border or at the port of Cotonou [in Benin], where more than 60 blocked containers have been discovered… worth roughly 4 billion CFA francs [$1.6 million],” Sule is quoted as stating by the source.
Since the presidential guard’s soldiers overthrew President Emmanuel Bazoum on July 26, the military government in Niger has been subject to sanctions by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
To put pressure on the coup plotters to reinstate democratic rule, the regional bloc blocked financial operations and closed admission to the uranium-rich country from its other member states.
According to reports, border barricades last month caused thousands of trucks carrying food to become stuck at the Malanville crossing in northern Benin for weeks.
The World Food Programme (WFP), the UN’s food agency, had earlier issued a warning that the blockade was “greatly” impacting the delivery” of “important” commodities and medical supplies into Niger.
The WFP’s regional spokeswoman for West Africa, Djaounsede Madjiangar, asserted that over 6,000 tonnes of its supplies, including food for malnourished children, were stranded outside the nation’s capital, Niamey.
The secretary general of the Nigerien health ministry asserted that ECOWAS sanctions against Niger violated WTO agreements in an interview with RIA that was published on Monday.
No political circumstance has ever resulted in such severe restrictions against humanitarian goods, Sule said, thus “we condemn the ECOWAS position.”
He claimed that the military rulers have been speaking with the governments of “friendly” nations including Burkina Faso, Guinea, Algeria, and Türkiye since the start of the crisis and have been looking into the potential of diverting supply channels.
