The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) has asked the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to invade Niger Republic and remove the military junta in the nation.
Recall that President Mohamed Bazoum was detained and ousted by the military junta, and in response, ECOWAS resolved to use all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the country.
The West African organisation had given Niger a week from Sunday to reinstate ousted President Bazoum or face harder sanctions, but the military junta have refused to yield.
In a statement on Friday, the USIP country manager, Chris Kwaja, called on ECOWAS to use military force to remove the coup leaders and ensure that the activities of security mercenaries are curtailed in the region.
Kwaja asserted that security contractors would see the region as fragile and take advantage of its natural resources if prompt actions were not taken against the coup leaders.
The USIP official said with the invasion of Niger, ECOWAS would be sending a very strong signal to whoever is outside the country that is supporting and masterminding what we are seeing.
He said: “We saw the communique issued by ECOWAS a few days ago to the coup leaders in Niger, telling them to return the president and have given an ultimatum.
“So we are waiting to see what ECOWAS will do at the end of the ultimatum, and I think if ECOWAS is able to garner the political muscles to bite hard at this time, it will be sending a very strong signal to whoever is outside the country that is supporting and masterminding what we are seeing.
“They are very active in the regions where there are natural resources and would continue to perpetuate conflicts and instability to justify why they should continue their activities wherever they are.
“The ECOWAS communique that was released drew attention to the fact that the region does not welcome private military and security contractors. But unfortunately, we don’t have a regional framework for dealing with that, and that is a major gap.
“The international communities will be celebrating 50 years of the enactment of the international committee on mercenaries towards the end of the year, and Africa has been the theatre of mercenaries activities.”
