ECOWAS imposes sanctions on associates of Niger military junta

…As junta  rejects attempts to negotiate return of president

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has announced sanctions against individuals collaborating with the military junta in the Republic of Niger, which has   rejected the latest diplomatic attempt to restore the country’s ousted president.

The Niger military leaders  refused to meet with a proposed delegation of West African, African Union and United Nations representatives.

The leadership of the regional body, on Tuesday, resolved to impose financial sanctions on the individuals and entities believed to be supporting the military junta in the Francophone country.

Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on media and publicity, told state house correspondents that the ECOWAS chairman has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to implement the financial sanctions on those concerned.

The presidential spokesperson did not specify the sanctions and also did not reveal the identities of the individuals affected.

“Mr President has directed the acting CBN governor to levy another slate of sanctions against entities and individuals associated with the military junta in Niger public,” he said.

“I said that intentionally I didn’t make a mistake, because I was given permission to make that statement and I emphasised that this is not an individual action taken by an individual president on behalf of an individual nation.

“This is an action taken yes, by the ECOWAS chairman who is the president of Nigeria, but standing on the authority provided by the consensus resolution of all ECOWAS members and heads of state with regard to financial sanctions being levied by ECOWAS members states against the military junta in Niger Republic.

“There is an authority that we are standing on. It is not the Nigerian government’s authority, it is the authority of the resolution passed in public before now.”

Ngelale said the seven-day ultimatum issued against the military junta is not a personal decision taken by Tinubu but that of ECOWAS.

“Concerning the ultimatum given to the military Junta in Niger Republic, it is an ECOWAS mandate, and it is not a Nigerian ultimatum. It is not a Nigerian mandate,” he said.

“And the office of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also serving as the chairman of ECOWAS, to emphasise this point, that due to certain domestic and international media coverage, tending toward personalisation of the ECOWAS sub-regional position to his person and to our nation individually.

“It is because of this that Mr President has deemed it necessary to state unequivocally that the mandate and ultimatum issued by ECOWAS is that of ECOWAS’ position.”

Following the military takeover in Niger Republic, ECOWAS issued a seven-day ultimatum to the junta to reinstate the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.

Despite pressures from the organisation and other countries, the military leaders in the country have refused to reinstate Bazoum.

On Thursday, ECOWAS leaders will reconvene to discuss the crisis in Niger Republic

Niger’s military rulers have rejected the latest diplomatic attempt to restore the country’s ousted president, refusing to meet with a proposed delegation of West African, African Union and United Nations representatives.

A letter from the junta Tuesday said a “climate of threatened aggression” made it impossible to hold talks on ending the constitutional crisis in Niger, where members of the presidential guard took control on July 26 and continue to detain President Mohamed Bazoum and his family.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened military intervention in Niger unless Bazoum is reinstated, though a Sunday deadline for the coup leaders to comply passed without action.

Earlier, a top U.S diplomatic official visited Niger to urge the military rulers to restore the democratically elected Bazoum to power.

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said on the social media platform X, formally known as Twitter, that she traveled to the capital Niamey “to express grave concern at the undemocratic attempts to seize power and urged a return to constitutional order.”

Nuland told reporters in a conference call Monday that she met with the “self-proclaimed chief of defense” Brigadier General Moussa Salaou Barmou and three other military officials during her visit, describing the talks as “extremely frank and at times, quite difficult.”

She said the military officials are “quite firm on how they want to proceed,” which she says does not “comport with the constitution of Niger.” She says the coup leaders refused her request to meet directly with deposed President Mohamed Bazoum and his family, as well as coup leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani.

Nuland, who is also the current acting deputy secretary of state, says she was asked by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to travel to Niamey to “see if we could resolve these issues diplomatically” and to make clear to the junta that Washington could cut off economic and other kinds of support to Niger “if democracy is not restored.”

In an interview with Radio France International Monday, Secretary Blinken said a diplomatic solution “is certainly the preferred way of resolving this situation.”

A spokesman for the regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said leaders will hold an extraordinary summit Thursday in Abuja, the capital of neighboring Nigeria, to discuss the crisis in Niger after the junta’s leaders defied a deadline to reinstate President Bazoum or face a possible military intervention.