Musah said the countries gathered in the Ghanaian capital had “agreed and fine-tuned what will be required for the intervention” and were willing to make commitments to the forces that would be required.
The escalated rhetoric and apparent resolve to use force could raise the stakes of nonmilitary efforts to restore democracy in the wake last month’s military coup in Niger. Musah emphasized that there was still time for diplomacy.
“All the options are on the table, and as we speak, we are still readying a mediation mission into the country. So we have not shut any door,” he said — warning that ECOWAS members would not engage in “endless dialogue.”
Niger has been at odds with many of its neighboring countries since July 26, when democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum — the first to take office in a democratic transfer of power since Niger gained independence — was overthrown by members of the presidential guard. He has remained under house arrest since and has been accused of treason by the junta that deposed him.
The prospect of an ECOWAS intervention in Niger has raised the prospect of a broader regional war — one that is especially concerning as hundreds of Western soldiers are based in the region, including U.S. and French troops who had been helping the ousted government fight militants in Niger.
The U.S. government has said it supports ECOWAS, but emphasized it favors diplomacy over military intervention.
“We support what ECOWAS is doing, and this is the moment to continue to focus intensively on diplomacy, which ECOWAS has also stated that continues to be their priority, and that any kind of military intervention is a last resort,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a briefing on Thursday.
Other regional powers, including Algeria and South Africa, have also voiced concern about an ECOWAS-led military intervention. “You can start a military intervention, but you never know how it will end,” Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said during a recent visit to Washington.
ECOWAS, a regional bloc founded in 1975, is itself split. Of its 15 members, three — Guinea, Mali and Burkina-Faso — have been suspended following coups of their own. The coup-installed governments in Mali and Burkina-Faso have said they supported Niger’s military government.
In addition to the military-led countries, the small island nation of Cape Verde is not contributing to the preparation for military intervention, according to ECOWAS.
ECOWAS has intervened militarily several times since 1990 when it formed its military arm, the Economic Community of West African States Monitoring Group.
Speaking on Friday, Musah emphasized the bloc’s history of military intervention and said that no external power was pushing ECOWAS to invade. “We want to get back to constitutional normalcy, and the decision is that the coup in Niger is one coup too many for the region, and we are putting a stop to it at this time,” he said.
“We are drawing a line in the sand, and that is it,” he added.
