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00:00 ECOWAS leaders are meeting for an emergency closed-door summit in Abuja.
00:05 The gathering today comes after a deadline the body set for democracy to be restored
00:09 in Niger came and went.
00:12 Coup leaders have so far ignored calls to reinstate Niger's president.
00:16 The possibility of a military intervention by ECOWAS was made more complicated after
00:21 neighbouring Mali, Anbuki Nafaso said it would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
00:27 Take a listen to what Nigeria's president Bolo Tenobu had to say as the meeting began
00:31 today.
00:32 "We still look to engage the party involved, including the coup leaders, in honest discussion
00:43 to convince them to relinquish power as suggested and reinstate President Bazoom."
00:54 We can now bring in our international affairs editor Philip Turrell.
00:57 Philip, great to see you as always.
00:59 Is this a make or break moment for ECOWAS?
01:01 I think this is one of those moments when ECOWAS is being looked upon as having to come
01:07 up with some kind of solution, some kind of answers and some kind of way forward in all
01:13 of this, which they haven't managed to do up until now.
01:16 Remember last week there was this one week deadline to put Mohamed Bazoom back in power
01:22 in Niger, the reposed president, since the 26th of July.
01:26 That deadline went by on Sunday.
01:28 Many were saying, well, there's going to be armed intervention to forcibly put the president
01:32 back where he was before he was overthrown.
01:35 That didn't materialise.
01:36 ECOWAS was saying it will be a last resort only, which led many to believe that it was
01:41 now being pushed back to being on the back burner, if you like, for the foreseeable future.
01:46 So that means they're now trying to work towards some kind of negotiated settlement, a diplomatic
01:52 solution to what's going on in Niger.
01:55 The problem for ECOWAS is that up until now, all their efforts to communicate with the
02:00 junta have come to nothing.
02:02 They sent a delegation of ECOWAS to meet them.
02:04 They only got as far as the airport in Niamey and then they came back empty handed.
02:08 They didn't meet the coup leader.
02:10 Then a group of ECOWAS leaders, the United Nations and the African Union were also due
02:16 to go there this week.
02:18 They were told they couldn't go for security reasons because of the sanctions imposed by
02:22 ECOWAS that would put their lives in jeopardy.
02:27 Even Victoria Nuland, the deputy secretary of state of the United States, hasn't managed
02:31 to meet the coup leaders.
02:33 So there is this blockage down the line where, well, we're not going to launch a military
02:38 action to put Mohamed Bazoum back because there isn't all the support within ECOWAS
02:42 necessary for that to take place.
02:43 And at the same time, we're not getting very far with our diplomatic efforts to try to
02:46 work out a solution.
02:48 So where is that going to leave ECOWAS?
02:49 The time is ticking by.
02:51 This is a one day meeting.
02:52 We're expecting some kind of statement tonight.
02:54 I think there may just be somewhere down the line, perhaps, the feeling that if they can
02:59 get away from this meeting with the release of Mohamed Bazoum from house arrest, that
03:04 will already be a step in the right direction.
03:06 But even that is not certain today.
03:08 Philip, but things were made more complicated, especially when it came to the threat of a
03:11 military intervention after Mali and Burkina Faso said anything, any intervention in Niger
03:17 would be a declaration of war and in their countries as well.
03:21 So there's this risk that this could spread into a larger regional conflict.
03:26 And that is one of the reasons I think that this has been pushed to the sidelines for
03:30 the moment, because there is this growing uncertainty about what this actually would
03:35 mean.
03:36 It's not just a case of going in there and putting Mohamed Bazoum back in power.
03:41 How would they do that?
03:42 With what means?
03:43 Which countries would take part?
03:44 Obviously, Cote d'Ivoire and also Senegal have said that they are willing to help in
03:51 the military action if there is some.
03:55 But other countries that were originally willing to do so are now beginning a little bit to
03:58 be slightly more reserved, including Benin, for example, which wanted to do it now because
04:02 of public opinion back home and saying, well, maybe it's not such a good idea.
04:05 And even in Nigeria itself, there are divisions over whether or not it's a good idea.
04:10 Because if you take Nigerian forces out of the country to get them into a military role
04:14 in Niger, that's going to mean there'll be less performance back home and that will open
04:18 the door to more jihadist activity from Boko Haram.
04:21 So there's no easy solution to all of this.
04:24 And that's why I think that the effort is now being put on sanctions to try to bring
04:29 the coup leaders to the negotiating table.
04:31 So far, that hasn't worked.
04:32 What they're going to do today remains uncertain, but we'll see in the next few hours what is
04:38 in the closing statement.
04:39 We'll see what comes out of that meeting.
04:41 Thank you very much for that, Philip.
04:42 Philip, tell them.
04:42 Philip, Philip Delga.