Accra, Ghana//-The Director of the Faculty of Academic Affairs and Research at the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) has stated emphatically that ECOWAS’ military intervention in Niger will not happen.
Professor Kwesi Aning’s stance still holds despite heads of forces of some member states after a meeting in Accra announced their readiness to strike.
According to him, the intervention will not happen because the bloc itself is facing credibility challenges and, therefore, would need to reverse its steps to regain “parts of its credibility.”
“Let me repeat it; the attack will not happen. You know yourself the number of times I’ve predicted coup d’états that have come through. So this is about forecasting and risk analysis and risk assessment.
“The intervention will not happen because ECOWAS needs to reverse or retract its steps to get parts of its credibility back,” he told Newsfile host, Samson Lardy Anyenini.
The expert indicated that the military regime in Niger started signalling their willingness to negotiate but “because of the tendency that our elders don’t make mistakes and they don’t apologise,” ECOWAS seems to be having difficulty reversing its decision.
Meanwhile, according to reports, the media in Niger is filled with discussions about Burkina Faso, Mali and Senegal possibly supporting Niger with ammunition in response to ECOWAS’ force strikes.
Prof. Aning said it is a necessary response on the back of the announcement of ECOWAS’ resolve to carry out its intervention, adding that one would try to make preparations when they perceive that they may be attacked.
After a week’s ultimatum given to the leaders of the coup in Niger to get back to constitutional rule, commanders of the various forces of the ECOWAS’ member states converged at Accra to deliberate on their intervention plan.
The meeting, however, did not see the attendance of Mali, Senegal and Burkina Faso as they have declared support for Niger and have criticised ECOWAS’ approach.
Experts have also expressed their disapproval of the approach and have lamented that the bloc has not exhausted all available options before resorting to a military intervention, which was to be the last.
According to the announcement made by the commanders after their meeting in Accra, there will be no further meeting before their possible strike in Niger.
Ghana Parliament opposed the proposed military intervention
North Tongu MP Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says Parliament opposed the proposed military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to restore democracy in Niger.
He said that democracy must be at the forefront in Niger’s coup because the West African States have committed to deepening their democratic credentials.
Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, August 19, Mr Ablakwa asserted that Parliament does not support coups and military takeovers.
The North Tongu MP stated that the West African countries do not want ECOWAS to return to the period of coups where military juntas control political power.
He explained that the citizens should rather have the power to elect their leaders and unseat them when the time comes for them to decide.
“I must say we are all opposed to military takeovers, nobody supports coups. When these coups occur, we in Parliament are the first casualties. All coup announcements, you will hear the physiology – parliament is hereby dissolved.
“We will instantly become unemployed, we will be jobless so I cannot come here and speak in favour of military takes.”
The Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament asserted that in as much as West African countries do not support coups and military takeovers, ECOWAS has not lived up to expectations.
He said ECOWAS always abused “democratic opportunities” when such issues rises.
“They (ECOWAS) are not empathetic to the people, they don’t use good governance tools, they don’t listen to the masses, they even use their democratically elected office to undermine institutions, compromise the judiciary, entrenched themselves, engage in what you may want to call constitutional coups and that has been the bin in the sub-region.”
Mr Ablakwa maintained that “When ECOWAS was established in 1975, even the host of that establishment conference General Gowon was not a democrat, a few months thereafter he was overthrown. Six leaders at that meeting were military dictators. A few years later, eight other countries had coups.
“Indeed if you look at the ECOWAS membership, only two countries have not had coups. Only Cape Verde and Senegal so you can understand what ECOWAS itself has been, credibility crises, lacking the moral rights,” he stressed.
He further explained that ECOWAS lacks credibility crises and expressed disbelieve in their attempt to be hardline and use force in Niger to serve as a deterrent to other countries.
“I do not think that military intervention is what will stem the tide, rather they should look at the causative factors. All of this bad leadership, people using democracy to entrench themselves, to kill their people.
“Look at how many opposition leaders have been imprisoned in Senegal, have many protestors have been shot by the democratically elected leader.”
Blaming the media
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has reiterated its desire to use dialogue to resolve the current crisis in Niger.
Its Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security (CPAPS), Dr Abdel-Fatau Musa, said the sub-regional bloc has always maintained that military intervention will be the last option.
“It is you the media who are actually beating the drums of war,” Dr Musa stated on The Keypoints on TV3/3FMon Saturday, August 19.
“Right from the beginning of this crisis, Ecowas has always said we are going to exhaust all our tools, the array of tools that we have.
“We condemn the coup, we ask for the release of President Bazoum and his family, we ask the junta CNSP to restore constitutional order [but] all that have been on deaf ears.”
He said if the junta is willing to engage the bloc on dialogue, military intervention will not be an option.
On Thursday, August 10 in Abuja, Nigeria, the Authority of Heads of State and Government of Ecowas urged member states to mobilise a stand-by force in order to restore constitutional order in Niger.
The decision, according to Dr Musa, comes after two missions of Ecowas were turned down by the CNSP led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani.
He said Ecowas has always made overtures for dialogue but the junta has rejected all that.
“All these steps are there and we are still asking them to give peace a chance by opening up the diplomatic channel.
“We are not the one shutting the door on them. It is rather they shutting the door on us.”
He said the junta has finally agreed to receive an Ecowas mission on Saturday for peace talks to begin.
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