Live – Coup in Niger: Russia opposes armed intervention in country

Malian authorities are revoking Air France’s authorization to operate between Paris and Bamako, after the company suspended flights to and from the country.

Air France suspended its flights to Mali and Burkina Faso on Monday after Niger’s airspace was closed.

The ban was extended till Friday. But Air France says it has extended until August 18 “following the coup in Niger and due to the geopolitical situation in the Sahel region”.

In a show of solidarity with Nigerian rulers, Malian authorities broke even before extending the suspension, which they described as a “flagrant violation” of the terms of its operating license.

Details can be found in our article.

Created in 2004, this force and the successor to the “ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Force” has intervened on several occasions, most recently in Mali in 2013 and The Gambia in 2017.
Read more information in our article.

AFP journalists noted that thousands of supporters of the military regime gathered near the French military base in Niamey, Niger, chanting anti-French slogans.

“Down with France, down with ECOWAS”, protesters chanted during the rally.

Russia has again voiced its opposition to any armed intervention in Niger, believing that the use of force would cause “strong destabilization” in the country.

“We believe that a military path to resolving the crisis in Niger will lead to a protracted conflict in this African country and a strong destabilization of the situation in the entire Sahara and Sahel region,” he said. In a statement.

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Volker Dürk on Friday expressed alarm over the “inhumane” conditions in the detention of Nigerian President Mohamed Bassum, who was overthrown by soldiers, and warned against any human rights abuses.

“I have received credible information that the conditions of his detention are degrading and inhumane in violation of international law,” he said in a statement.

Chiefs of staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are to meet in Ghana on Saturday, two days after their leaders authorized military intervention to restore peace and constitutional order in Niger, according to information from regional military sources to AFP.

The meeting, scheduled for the Ghanaian capital Accra, follows a decision on Thursday at the ECOWAS summit in Abuja to deploy the organization’s “standby force” to restore Niger President Mohamed Bassum in a July 26 coup.

African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mohamed on Friday expressed “serious concern” over the “deteriorating conditions of detention” of Nigerian President Mohamed Bassum, which military officials ruled “unacceptable”.

In the same press release, the President “expresses his firm support for the decisions of ECOWAS”.

The Economic Community of West African Nations decided on Thursday to deploy a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger.

The European Union on Friday expressed its “deep concern” over the “deterioration of conditions of detention” in the military coup that ousted Nigerian President Mohamed Bassum, and reiterated calls for his “immediate and unconditional” release.

President Bazoom and his family “according to the latest information, will be without food, electricity and maintenance for several days (…) [Il] He has dedicated his life to improving the daily lives of Nigerians and there is no justification for such treatment,” he pointed out. At X (formerly Twitter) Joseph Borrell, head of EU diplomacy.

On Wednesday, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was similarly cautious, saying he was “concerned” about the president-elect’s situation and calling for his release, as we noted in this article.

After ECOWAS’s announcement of its decision to deploy a “standby force”. Cote d’Ivoire President Alassane Ouattara said Côte d’Ivoire would provide a “battalion” of 850 to 1,100 people, along with Nigeria and Benin in particular, and that “other countries” would join them. He promised that the intervention would begin “as soon as possible”.

Apart from the announcement by the Ivorian president, the contours of the military intervention plan to restore Nigerian president-elect Mohamed Bassum remain unclear. The diplomatic route is still open by ECOWAS countries.

France on Thursday evening gave “its full support to all the decisions” adopted at the summit of heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Niger.

Meanwhile, the head of US diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, announced on Thursday that his country supports ECOWAS’s action on Niger, although it did not openly endorse the decision to deploy its force.

On Thursday evening, leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at an extraordinary summit in Abuja ordered the deployment of the regional body’s “standby force” to “restore constitutional order in Niger” by the ECOWAS Commission Chairman, Omar Toure.

While he did not specify a timetable, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara promised the intervention would take place “as soon as possible”. In this article we provide details of the ECOWAS decision and the context in which it applies.

Hello everyone and welcome to this live on the news of the coup in Niger and the reactions of the international community, especially the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

ECOWAS on Thursday ordered the deployment of a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger, and it must intervene “as soon as possible,” Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said. No timetable is specified.

In its initiative, the Community received the support of France, but not the United States, although it was not to invest militarily in the operation.