Niger: Algeria Rejects Military Intervention, Warns Tinubu, ECOWAS

Algeria has rejected the plans of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to carry out military intervention in Niger Republic to restore democratic rule.

Recall that ECOWAS defence chiefs had agreed upon a tentative date for potential military intervention in Niger should diplomatic negotiations fail.

ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Abdel-Fatau Musah, discussed the potential “D-Day” following a 2-day summit in Ghana.

The focus was primarily on logistics and strategies regarding possible force in Niger, emphasizing that military action would be a final measure.

During a meeting in Ghana’s capital, Accra, ECOWAS troops expressed readiness to join a standby force aiming to reinstate democracy in Niger

But in a statement on Sunday, Algeria stated that carrying out a military intervention would not be suitable for the region and Africa as a whole.

The North African country maintained its firm belief that a negotiated political solution was still possible.

According to Algeria, history showed that military interventions carry a lot of problems than solutions and that they had been additional factors of clashes and heartbreaks.

The statement reads: “At a time when military intervention in Niger is becoming clearer, Algeria deeply regrets that the use of violence has taken the lead on the path of a negotiated political solution peacefully restoring constitutional and democratic order in this brother and neighbouring country.

“Algeria remains, in fact, with a strong conviction that this negotiated political solution is still possible, that all the paths that can lead to it have not been taken, and that all these possibilities have not been exhausted.

“The history of our region abundantly teaches that military interventions have carried a lot of problems than solutions and that they have been additional factors of clashes and heartbreaks rather than sources of stability and security.

“Before the irreparable is committed, and before the region is caught in the spiral of violence whose incalculable consequences no one can predict, Algeria calls on all parties to restraint, wisdom, and reason that all command to resolutely restore the highest priority to the negotiated political option to the current constitutional crisis, thus saving Niger and the entire region from the days heavy with threats and dangers, in particular Region.”