INTERVIEW: We are open to peaceful return to constitutional order in Niger – ECOWAS Commission President

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Dr Omar Touray, spoke with journalists in Abuja after the 48th Extraordinary Summit of the regional organisation convened by President Bola Tinubu over the political impasse in Republic of Niger

Excerpts:

Why the insistence on using force when citizens of concerned country are opposed to it?

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.

When will this deployment of Standby Force happen? Were there conversations about the funding?

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 measure are being taken.

Can you clarify what you meant by deployment of the force, are the being sent into Niger now and when is that going to happen?

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.

With all these sanctions, some have said it’s a draw back on the AfCFTA. How do you harmonise this?

When we are citing one instrument of the community or the continent, we should not ignore other 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.

You called for international support, in what way?

In any other way they can support the community.

What does the Standby Force mean; how many troops will be deployed, where will they be based and what is the composition by countries?

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.