West African leaders are meeting on Thursday to try to decide whether to use military force or diplomacy to restore democracy in Niger.
It’s a fortnight since Niger’s President was detained by his own guards who then seized power – the latest in a string of military coups stretching across the continent.
Leaders of the regional Ecowas bloc are meeting in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
There are no easy options for them. They’re anxious to restore democracy in Niger – a vast, impoverished nation already battling against Islamist insurgents.
But the soldiers who seized power in Niger have, so far, shrugged off diplomatic and economic pressure.
The regional bloc led by Nigeria has also threatened to use military force. A few years ago, that might have been a fairly straightforward option.
But other neighbouring countries – Mali, in particular – have recently succumbed to military coups, backed by Russian mercenaries and they’re now siding with Niger’s generals.
There is a lot at stake now – for a huge and increasingly unstable slice of Africa.
Source: BBC
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Sit up peacefmonline.com How can you use the picture of a former Nigerian president in this article? You don't only make grammatical errors but also pictorial?
Coups and corrupt regimes are like chicken and egg. It is ironical these old fuuls who misgovern say or do nothing about bad and corrupt government but jump up when there is a coup. As much as I detest coups we should at the same time condemn the corrupt governments which give birth to these coups. Tinubu himself came to power on the back of an election he allegedly rigged and his victory is currently being challenged in court! African leaders need to ask themselves some hard questions regarding they way they govern their citizens! Kleptocratic regimes come to power and steal so much whilst the majority of the populace wallow in poverty. Over 90% of Nigeriens live in poverty amidst rich natural resources. This can only be due to bad government and bad policies by the government which only seeks to enrich themselves to the exclusivity of the people. And most of the times these kleptocratic regimes are propped up by western powers whose only interest is to exploit the natural resources of the people, using these pseudo-dictators as guard doggs against their won people! A similar thing is happening in Ghana where ministers of state are stealing so much money they don't even know where to keep all of it! At the same time the country is grappling with unsustainable debt levels whilst the government is squeezing the citizens and businesses through draconian taxes ! What kind of wickedness is this! A single minister having over USD6million dollars in cash and over GHC55million ! Why? We know a Minister's salary to be GHC17,000! This is even too much if you consider that they get everything else for free! So where did she get all that money from?
The ECOWAS Leaders don't need any meeting on the Niger Crisis. They should rather gather at the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Centre, Accra, Ghana and invite all the Chief of Defence Staffs (CDS) of ECOWAS member countries to a meeting. Now the ECOWAS leaders should ask the Defence Chiefs what is it that they (the presidents) are doing wrong which is attracting the military to want to take over, soldiers are very open and frank people, they (the soldiers) will them. It is that simple. The leaders should equally ask themselves; what is it that we are doing such that the very people who waste precious time to and queue to vote for us are the very people who pour onto the streets when they see soldiers chasing us out of the very offices they voted us into. They should ask themselves how come that only a few years ago, (then in opposition), we were the most admired/popular people in our countries. Having won power, we have suddenly become the most unpopular people in our countries? They should ask themselves , how come that they are doing worse things than the very things they accused their predecessors of doing. They should ask themselves, what are they doing wrong such that some of their own party MP's/ appointees are unhappy with. They should ask themselves. The answers to these questions are not far fetched, they are right in front of them and they know, what they don't know is that, they don't know their people know.