Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) chiefs of staff are set to meet in Ghana on Saturday, two days after their leaders gave the green light for military intervention to restore constitutional order in the country of Niger, Regional Military sources learned on Friday.
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This meeting, scheduled in Ghana’s capital Accra, will come after an ECOWAS summit in Abuja on Thursday decided to deploy the organization’s “stand-by force” to reinstate Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s president who was ousted in a coup on July 26 .
AFP
After the meeting, the chiefs of staff will brief ECOWAS leaders on the “best options” for their decision to activate and deploy the “standby force,” according to these regional military sources.
ECOWAS, still hoping for a peaceful solution to the crisis, has not given a timeline, nor the number or origins of the soldiers making up its “standby force”.
AFP
Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara pledged on Thursday to send between 850 and 1,100 troops to contribute to the force, which he says could intervene “as soon as possible”.
Nigerian and Beninese troops are also said to be in it, he said.