West African bloc says 'we are going into Niger' if all else fails
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Transcript
00:00 And we begin in Ghana, where West African defense chiefs are meeting as they work to reverse last month's coup in Niger.
00:06 A military intervention from the regional bloc, ECOWAS, is on the table.
00:11 A deadline calling on the junta to release and reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum already came and went.
00:17 ECOWAS has ordered the deployment of a standby force, but it's unclear if or when it could intervene.
00:26 Even as they are telling us that they are ready for talks, they are still seeking reasons to justify an unjustifiable coup d'etat.
00:39 Let no one be in doubt that if everything else fails, the valiant forces of West Africa,
00:50 both the military and the civilian components are ready to answer to the call of duty.
00:58 For more, we can cross to Accra and speak to Justice Baidu, who's following the talks for us.
01:04 Justice, can you walk us through just what's at stake here?
01:11 So what is at stake is exactly when and how the ECOWAS military force is going to be deployed in Niger.
01:21 We have posed the very critical question that many people have been asking to the ECOWAS political chief as to when exactly this would be.
01:32 He has fallen short of answering this question except to say that the ball is now in the court of the junta in Niger to accept the call for them to stand down and restore President Bazoum to power.
01:48 Otherwise, they would be left with no other choice than to intervene.
01:53 There's been questions about if they were exploring other alternatives to resolve this matter.
02:02 And what he said is that, yes, they have other alternatives in place.
02:07 And it's just been difficult for them because the junta has refused to open up to any conversations at all.
02:16 So at this time now, this particular meeting today and tomorrow is definitely going to come out with the modalities and the resources that is needed to make this entry of the ECOWAS military force into Niger.
02:36 And Justice, what's your sense of how these talks are being viewed in Niger by the junta, but also by civilians?
02:44 At least in Ghana, this activity or this plan looks very unpopular.
02:53 Between yesterday and today, I have spoken on the streets of Accra, the capital, to a widespread of people, many who believe that, one, that ECOWAS is not really acting independently on this and it's being twigged around by Western forces.
03:10 And also that many people believe that ECOWAS doesn't have that strength enough to enable it to go through this process that it intends to.
03:21 And if they did try something that they didn't have the resources to see to the end, it may well complicate their issues.
03:29 A lot of people also feel that the region has enough problems already with many economists now battling economic crisis all over the region.
03:39 This would complicate the situation.
03:42 In countries like Ghana, for example, the main opposition, which is very, very strong on the ground, has asked that if the government of Ghana did want to commit men from Ghana's military to this ECOWAS action,
03:56 it has to come to parliament to seek parliamentary approval before it can go ahead.
04:02 And so it's really, really uncertain if this is going to happen, at least from the perspective of Ghana.
04:09 And as it stands with many people across the street, it doesn't look like a very, very popular decision.
04:15 All right, Justice, thank you so much for that update and your analysis.
04:18 That's Justice Baidu reporting there from Ghana.