Today in Accra in Ghana there will be a new summit of the Chiefs of Staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The meeting was convened after the Abuja summit, in which the leaders of the countries involved decided on the preventive mobilization of a multinational military force of the organization (about three thousand men).
Apparently the war is about to begin except for a few last-minute twists. The USA, Russia and China have firmly condemned the use of weapons because interests are at risk throughout the Sahel which could inevitably catch fire. Even the EU is against the use of force in Niger, the only discordant note is that of France which has promised support of military means and intelligence to the ECOWAS coalition.
Meanwhile, yesterday, thousands of supporters of the military regime that took power in Niger gathered near the French military base, chanting hostile slogans to France and ECOWAS and waving Russian and Nigerien flags.
According to what has been learned, after the meeting in Accra the chiefs of staff will brief the leaders of ECOWAS on the best options on the table, following the decision to activate a multinational force. Ecowas, which officially still hopes to find a peaceful solution to the crisis, has not specified any timetable for a possible attack or given any other ultimatums.
There now seems to be no room for negotiation, also because the military junta is not willing to have direct contact with Ecowas, according to what Abdel Fatau Musah, commissioner for political affairs of the organisation, told the BBC. Musah said that Ecowas will not allow the junta to govern for a transitional period, as it did previously with the coup plotters in Burkina Faso - where the military in power today silenced Omega Radio, guilty according to them of having 'offended' colleagues who took power in Niamey – and Mali. These two countries have even said that an attack on Niger will be considered by them "a declaration of war" against them as well, while Bamako has announced that it has revoked Air France's authorization to fly.
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