ECOWAS has given the military coup plotters in the Niger Republic a seven-day deadline to return President Mohamed Bazoum to office as a democratically elected leader or face harsh sanctions.
This was the decision reached at the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government’s Extraordinary Session, which took place on Sunday at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
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Additionally, it gave the member states’ Chiefs of Defence Staff the go-ahead to convene an emergency meeting in order to plan out the most efficient method to carry out a potential military operation to reinstate constitutional order.
The ECOWAS Commission “calls for the immediate release and reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum as President and Head of State of the Republic of Niger and for the full restoration of constitutional order in the Republic of Niger,” according to Omar Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, who read the communiqué.
“Reject any resignation that may ostensibly come from His Excellency, President Mohamed Bazoum, consider President Bazoum’s unlawful incarceration to be a hostage scenario and hold the individuals who attempted the coup totally and entirely accountable for the safety of his Excellency President Bazoum Mohamed.
“Take all necessary steps to reinstate constitutional order in the Republic of Niger if the Authority’s requests are not implemented within a week.
“Suspension of all business and financial dealings between Asia and ECOWAS Member States. All service transactions, particularly those involving energy, should be halted.
ECOWAS also threatened to freeze Republic of Niger assets at Aqua Central Bank.
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Assets of the Niger State, as well as state-run businesses and parastatals, have been frozen in commercial banks.
His statement read, “Suspension of measure from all financial assistance and transactions with all financial institutions, particularly EBID.”
