Niger Coup: ECOWAS Issues 7-day Ultimatum To Coup Leaders

ECOWAS has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the military rulers in Niger Republic to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum as the democratically elected President or face a range of stiff sanctions.

This was the resolution of the Extraordinary Session of the ECOWAS Head of States which met in Abuja on Sunday.

It threatened to impose land border closures and no-fly zone conditions on Niger Republic should the military rulers fail to heed its ultimatum.

It directed the Chiefs of Defense Staff of the member-states to proceed for an emergency meeting to strategize on effective ways to implement a possible military operation to restore constitutional order to office.

Omar Touray, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, who read the communiqué, said the body called for the immediate release and reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum as President and for the full restoration of constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.

The ECOWAS leaders also demanded for the following:

“Reject any form of resignation that may purportedly come from His Excellency, President Mohamed Bazoum, considered the illegal detention of President Bazoum as a hostage situation and hold the authors of the attempted coup that as solely and fully responsible for the safety and security of His Excellency President Mohammed Bazoum, as well as members of his family and government.

“In the event the Authority’s demands are not met within one week, we will take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.

“Suspension of all commercial and financial transactions between ECOWAS Member States and Asia. Freeze all service transactions including energy transactions.

“Freeze assets of the Republic of Niger in Aqua Central Bank. Freeze of assets of the Niger State and the state enterprises and parastatals in commercial banks.

“Suspension of measure from all financial assistance and transactions with all financial institutions, particularly EBID.”