The military junta in the Niger Republic that ousted the democratically elected President of the country, Mohamed Bazoum, has cut off ties with Nigeria and other countries.
This is coming after efforts of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) to resolve the ongoing impasse failed.
Days after ECOWAS issued a seven-day ultimatum for the reinstatement of President Mohamed Bazoum to avoid a possible clash with the junta, President Bola Tinubu sent a high-powered delegation to the country to meet with the coup leaders, on Thursday, August 3.
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The delegation led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd) could not meet with the leader of the junta. It only met with representatives of the junta.
It has now been noticed that the Niger Republic has severed ties with Nigeria, Togo, France (its coloniser), and the United States.
Radio France International reported that one of the putschists said on national television “The functions of the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors of the Republic of Niger to France, Nigeria, Togo, and the United States are terminated.”
The ambassadors include Aishatou Boulamakane, Niger ambassador to the French Republic; Alad Magaskia, Niger ambassador to the Federal Republic of Nigeria; Sidi Zakari, Niger ambassador to the Togolese Republic; and Limon Tingiri Mohamadou Tiari, Niger ambassador to the United States.
Meanwhile, the military junta in Niger led by Tchiani, has rebuffed ECOWAS delegation.
It was an attempt to resolve the political crisis in the Niger Republic, that the ECOWAS on Thursday dispatched two missions abroad, with the mandate to achieving a resolution to ending the crisis.
According to a delegation member on Friday, the team led by former Nigerian military ruler, Abdulsalami Abubakar could not spend the night in Niger as scheduled.
The ECOWAS delegation arrived at the capital Niamey on Thursday “but did not spend the night” as scheduled, nor meet with coup leader Abdourahamane Tiani or deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, the team member said.
The delegation was initially due to meet Tiani to present ECOWAS’s demands, according to the Nigerian Presidency, Alarabiya News reports.
The first delegation led by former Nigerian Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), led the engagement with the coupists and other parties in the Nigerien impasse in the country’s capital, Niamey; another delegation, led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe led the engagement with the leaders of Libya and Algeria concerning the Niger crisis.
A statement on Thursday by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, Chairman of the ECOWAS’ Authority of Heads of State and Government, President Bola Tinubu, who dispatched both teams on the mission, charged the General Abubakar’s team with a mandate to expeditiously resolve the crisis in the troubled country.
The mission to Niger Republic which departed for Niamey immediately after President Tinubu’s briefing, was in line with the resolution reached at the end of the extraordinary summit of the ECOWAS held last weekend at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The former Nigerian Head of State is joined in the delegation by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III and the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray.
Briefing the two delegations, President Tinubu charged them to engage all stakeholders robustly with a view to doing whatever it takes to ensure a conclusive and amicable resolution of the situation in Niger for the purposes of African peace and development rather than a move to adopt the geopolitical positions of other nations.
“We don’t want to hold brief for anybody. Our concern is democracy and the peace of the region,” the President said.
Before departing the Villa for Niamey, former Head of State, General Abubakar, told journalists that his team was charged with, which he said was to express the displeasure of the leaders of the sub-region with the developments in Niger to those who hijacked power in the country.
“We have just been given our marching orders to go to Niger and convey the feelings of our heads of state in the region that they are not happy with what happened. And they gave them an ultimatum that the coupists should desist from what they are doing and give back power to an elected President and again, to make sure that this message is sent loud and clear to them.
“That’s what we are here for. So far, we are going there to convey this message to them and hear their response and report back what they have said,” Abubakar said.
Kingibe said talking with Libya and Algeria, two countries bordering Niger to the North, will stimulate the solidarity required for peaceful talks.
In a statement by one of the putschist read on National television late Thursday Niger’s junta warned it would meet force with force.
The statement reads: “Any aggression or attempted aggression against the State of Niger will see an immediate and unannounced response from the Niger Defense and Security Forces on one of (the bloc’s) members.”
