President Alhassan Quattara of Cote D’Ivoire on Thursday said the prolonged keeping of the President of Niger Republic, Mohammed Bazoum hostage is an act of terrorism
President Quattara stated this while speaking with journalists at the Extraordinary Summit of Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS Heads of State and Government on the crisis in Niger.
Recall that the leader of Niger’s Presidential Brigade Guard, General Abduouramane Tchiani had overthrown the democratically elected President, Muhamad Bazoum and the ECOWAS has ordered that the military should reinstate him.
Speaking to journalists, before he left the Summit, he said, “We had a very good summit. We thank President Tinubu for having invited us, for his hospitality and the people of Nigeria.
“As you’re aware this is the second summit in 10 days that we have organized on Niger and this is a critical problem we have to solve. As you’re aware, ECOWAS has taken many decisions in the past, legal and factual about coup d’etat and the community has always condemned coup d’etat and coup d’etat have happened in many countries in the sub-region.
ECOWAS has intervened in the past in Liberia, Sierra Leone recently in Gambia, Guinea Bissau and today we have a similar situation in Niger.
I’d like to say that ECOWAS cannot accept this. This is not a matter of Nigeria against Niger, not at all. The decision that we have made today and I hope it would be implemented immediately is a decision of ECOWAS, all heads of state, I think that we have tried dialogue with the putschists.
We have sent delegation, high personalities like former president Abdulsalami Abubakar, the Sultan of Sokoto, Emir of Kano, former governor of CBN Sanusi my friend and many others personalities in this important country, to talk the people of Niger.
But they’re keeping President Bazoum hostage. I personally consider this as a terrorist act. And we cannot let this continue. We have to act.
The position of Côte d’Ivore which has been endorsed by all of the Heads of state is that we have been able to tell these putschists that their place is in the barracks. They should go to fight the terrorists and not try to kidnap a democratically elected president.
So we believe that this for the credibility of ECOWAS. All of us are concerned and involved in this decision. So I’d like to thank my former president of ECOWAS President Tom Barlow he himself is a former general democratically elected now to serve that we want democracy in our sub region.
We do not accept, we will not accept coup d’etat and I think these putschists must go if they don’t let Bazoum out to be able to exercise his mandate. I think we should move ahead and get them out. Bazoum is the democratically elected president. he should be freed, he should be able to exercise it mandate freely.”
Asked if his position he was canvassing for was the ECOWAS position, he said, “As you can see I have to leave now, but this is the position most heads of state who have intervened, have endorsed. So I want to say I want to insist this it is not a Nigerian affair, it’s an affair of ECOWAS, and you know Niger is part of the monetary union of West Africa, which I am the chair and this concern Cote d’Ivoire on that account.
So ECOWAS is even bigger. ECOWAS is nearly 400 million people, 240 million in Nigeria, 140 million in the West African monetary union. So this is 400 million people. If we don’t have democracy, do you think that our countries will be able to move ahead? This coup d’etat is not acceptable. We should put an end to it. And I hope it will be unanimously but we’ll put this to an end.”
Speaking in a post-Summit briefing, the
President of ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, while fielding questions from journalists on the insistence on using force when citizens of the concerned country are opposed to it, said;
“If I may answer that question quickly, I think the communiqué is very clear; window for the restoration of constitutional order through peaceful means remains open. Nobody should consider this as the only option opened to ECOWAS.
ECOWAS has been engaged in peaceful and diplomatic efforts to effect the restoration of constitutional order in Niger and the communiqué has made it very clear; the Authority has kept that window open.”
Asked when the deployment of Standby force happen will take place, he said, “The heads of state have taken the decision and direct the mobilisation of the Standby Force, they’ve also directed the military authorities in the subregion to deploy the Standby Force of the community. As to the financing, that has been discussed and appropriate measures are being taken.”
Further asked to clarify what he meant by the deployment of the force and what deployment to Niger will be immediate, he said, “As political leaders, they have directed the military leaders of the subregion to mobilise and deploy. I leave you to liaise with military authorities for details.”
On whether the sanctions are not a drawback on the AfCFTA, he said, “When we are citing one instrument of the community or the continent, we should not ignore another instrument. As you cited the instrument of the African Continental Free Trade Area, may I remind you to recall that there are continental and regional instruments that outlaw unconstitutional takeover of power.”
Also asked on the level of support ECOWAS was asking for from the international community he said in any other way they can support the regional body.
Pressed on the meaning of standby force means; how many troops will be deployed, where they be based and what is the composition by countries, he said:
“May I refer you to the ECOWAS website for further details on the regional Standby Force will be available there.”
To round off the press briefing, he said, “May I use this opportunity to say one thing and one thing alone. This is ECOWAS, made up of 15 member countries, as you have seen, who’ve met and decided on the way forward on this matter. It is not one country against another country. It is not the community against one country, the community has its instruments to which all members have subscribed and it is now up to the heads of state and incumbent upon them to make sure the provisions of the various instruments are applied and implemented.
So let us look at this as a community initiative, a community action, not an individual country going against another country, and ECOWAS is not going against ECOWAS citizens. ECOWAS is trying to implement principles of the community that we have all subscribed to. That is very important.
There is a lot of information out there, trying to present this as one country against another country. That is not the situation and the leaders have made it clear that that they are taking their responsibility and acting in accordance with their own plans and intensions.
It is not that we have anything against any country or any people, this is a regional position. Please let us send that message out. This is a regional position, it is not one country against another. Sometimes we tend to change the narrative, but as you have seen, eight heads of state were here from ECOWAS. In addition to the eight heads of states, you had two other heads of states; the Head of State of Burundi and the Head of State of Mauritania and then you have representatives of various international organisations.
So this is a regional initiative, it’s not an individual country going after another country, or the community going against citizens of the community; Nigeriens are ECOWAS citizens and I think it is important we all recall that before the attempted coup, nobody imposed sanctions on Niger. So I think we should put the blame on those people who have taken the initiative to remove a constitutionally elected head of state.
We have all agreed to abide by constitutional order, abide by constitutional rule, so when constitutional order is broken, there are consequences and that is what the heads of state are trying to apply.”
