Defence chiefs across several countries in West Africa met at the Defence Headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday.
The meeting is coming after the Economic Community of West African States issued a seven-day ultimatum to the military junta in Niger Republic to hand over power to the democratically elected government of Muhammed Bazoum.
Speaking after the extraordinary session presided over by its Chairman, President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, the President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, said all Chiefs of Defence Staff of the member states would proceed for an emergency meeting to strategise on effective ways to implement a possible military operation to restore Muhammed Bazoum to office.
Regional defence chiefs will hold a two-day meeting in Abuja about the situation. An ECOWAS delegation was also expected to arrive in Niger’s capital Niamey on Wednesday to start talks with the junta, which is led by General Abdourahmane Tiani.
It was the seventh military takeover in less than three years in West and Central Africa and has opened a split in the bloc – neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, also ruled by military juntas, have said they would consider any regional intervention in Niger to be a declaration of war and would come to its defence.
The coup leaders announced overnight they had reopened its land and air borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya and Chad.
The junta closed the borders last Wednesday, at the same time that it announced that it had removed Bazoum from power.
The borders that have reopened are mainly in remote desert areas. Niger’s key entryways for trade and commerce remain closed due to sanctions imposed by ECOWAS.
