Politics

ECOWAS using back-channel strategies to avoid bloodshed Niger— President Tinubu

Published

1 year ago

November 4, 2023

Bola Tinubu, who is Nigeria’s President and Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has said that the regional bloc is using back-channel strategies to avoid bloodshed in Niger Republic, the venue of the latest coup in the region.

The West African country is the latest in the league of states under a military interregnum after officers seized power in July, following similar developments in neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea.

Tinubu made the position known while meeting the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, Catherine Colonna, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja on Friday. He maintained that ECOWAS was exploring diplomatic interventions to avoid an escalated crisis in Niger.

According to a statement released by Ajuri Ngelale, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, the disposition of ECOWAS is to safeguard ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who was deposed on July 26.

To prevent violence, Tinubu stated that Nigeria was keeping an eye on events in its neighbour and looking into diplomatic options.

The statement partly reads, “I am deploying all appropriate back-channel strategies to avoid bloodshed in the Niger Republic. We recognize the wishes of our people; they do not want war, but that does not mean we can not take bold and decisive action.

“We have a colleague and a democratically-elected leader, President Bazoum, being used as a human shield. If we are not careful, he and his family can be endangered.

“Leadership is about responding to the needs of the people; their cries, and their frustrations. Nigeria shares a border with Niger across the expanse of seven Nigerian states, and most of these states are very populated. Therefore, I need to guide ECOWAS carefully and steadily so that we manage our anger carefully.”

The new junta is the target of growing international sanctions. The direct collaboration between the Dutch government and Niamey has been temporarily halted. Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister of Germany, has also disclosed that her nation now backs EU sanctions against the military regime in Niger.

Due to its abundance of oil and uranium, as well as its vital role in the fight against Islamist militants in the Sahel, Niger is strategically important to the United States, China, France, and Russia.

Politics

Mali’s junta names spokesman Abdoulaye Maiga new Prime Minister

Published

17 hours ago

November 22, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

A day after dismissing Choguel Maiga for criticising the government, Mali’s governing junta named its spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, as Prime Minister on Thursday, according to state broadcaster, ORTM.

A source close to Choguel Maiga told Reuters that the ruling generals were incensed by Maiga’s remarks over the weekend denouncing the junta’s inability to hold elections within the 24-month timeframe given for the return to democracy.

After promising to hold elections in February, the military authorities, who took control in two separate coups in 2020 and 2021, have put off the poll indefinitely, citing technological difficulties.

Choguel Maiga’s firing coincides with indications of growing discontent and disarray among Mali politicians, even those who first supported the coup and collaborated with the junta.

As the wait for elections continues, Choguel Maiga, a civilian prime minister who was installed by the military junta in 2021, is the most recent to lose support.

He was cited on Saturday as claiming he learnt of the junta’s decision via the media and that there had been no discussion regarding the delay of the elections inside the cabinet.

“It’s all happening in total secrecy, without the prime minister’s knowledge,” Choguel Maiga told reporters.

Before then, he had frequently stood up for Mali’s junta against criticism from foreign friends and neighbours in West Africa who denounced its repeated election delays and military collaboration with Russian mercenaries.

As government spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, the new prime minister, has also made strong public remarks against France, the previous colonial master. One such speech was demanding French President Emmanuel Macron to stop his “neocolonial” and “condescending” behaviour.

Abdoulaye Maiga and Assimi Goita, the leaders of the junta, announced they had kept all of the important cabinet ministers in their portfolios in the new administration in a statement that was broadcast on state television ORTM.

The announcement said that Abdoulaye Maiga will remain minister of territory administration.

Politics

Congo opposition mobilizes protests against constitution review

Published

2 days ago

November 21, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

In response to President Felix Tshisekedi’s intentions to amend the constitution, opposition lawmakers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have called for national protests on Wednesday.

Tshisekedi, who was sworn in for his second and last term in January, said that a panel would be formed in October to recommend possible constitutional amendments.

According to critics, it may be a ploy to lift term restrictions and give him another chance to run.

Tshisekedi said the current constitution, ratified by a referendum in 2005, needed to change because it did not align with the country’s current realities.

Opposition politicians, including former president Joseph Kabila and past presidential candidates Martin Fayulu and Moise Katumbi, issued a unified statement on Wednesday urging rallies to “block” Tshisekedi.

A request for a response from the Congo’s presidency was not answered.

Patrick Muyaya, the minister of communications, stated on Monday that discussions surrounding the constitutional revision should be de-politicized and that no one should doubt the president’s intentions.

“We’re at the beginning of our mandate… The President of the Republic still has four years to go, and we must avoid attributing intentions to him,” Muyaya told reporters.