Niger Military Leadership to charge President with HIGH TREASON; ECOWAS responds

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#Africa, August 14, 2023 – Relations between the ruling military in Niger and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) continue to deteriorate following the military’s announcement of charges of high treason against Mohamed Bazoum, President of the Republic of Niger.

ECOWAS described the announcement as provocation and contradictory to the reported willingness of the military to work towards a peaceful solution, in an August 14 statement.

The charges come days after an ECOWAS meeting to decide on how to proceed with the deployment of a standby force into military-held Niger, was suspended indefinitely without conclusion.

The African Bloc has repeatedly called on the military in Niger, who carried out a coup in late July, to reinstate Bazoum and release him from captivity. Those calls have largely been ignored and the August 11 meeting was supposed to decide on whether the bloc would use force to make the military comply.

The meeting ended without resolution just a day after they announced they would create the standby force. No information has been released about the force according to African news agencies and ECOWAS still maintains it wants a peaceful solution.

Recently a wave of anger against ECOWAS and France, which previously occupied Niger, was observed in the country when tens of thousands of residents gathered in support of the coup.

This resentment has been echoed across the world by people who favour the strategic disruption of neo-colonialism, though the dramatic move to detain the president has largely been frowned upon, attracting global sanctions against the state.

Bazoum, the captured president, has not been seen publicly since the coup and concerns are being raised for his safety.

The military claims the coup was carried out with the best intentions to better the lives of the people of Niger and correct economic and safety issues the president had allowed to blossom.