ECOWAS Top Brass Meet in Ghana to Agree on Date for Niger Intervention

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - An emergency meeting of the chiefs of staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Ghana, which ends today, will agree on a concrete date for the launch of the military intervention in Niger, a French broadcaster has reported, citing a spokesperson for the organization.

The spokesperson told the news outlet that the summit's purpose is to choose the timetable of the intervention, since everything else is ready.

On August 17, the first day of the meeting in Ghana, the sides discussed the distribution of reserves among potential participants in the operation against Niger, according to the report. At least five ECOWAS members, Nigeria, Senegal, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin and Guinea-Bissau, are among the future participants.

Distribution work that was not completed during yesterday's session will continue on Friday, RFI reported.

On Thursday, an unnamed officer in the ECOWAS standby force told the broadcaster that no order had been given to stop the deployment, so the activation of the troops was still in effect despite the community's diplomatic efforts.

A military takeover took place in Niger on July 26. President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted and detained by his own guard, led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani. Following the military takeover, ECOWAS suspended all financial aid to Niger, froze rebels' assets and imposed a ban on commercial flights to and from the country. In early August, during a summit in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, ECOWAS leaders agreed to activate a standby force to potentially compel the Nigerien military to reinstate Bazoum.