West African leaders on Thursday August 10, escalated their warning of imminent military intervention in Niger, responding to the coup leaders’ efforts to solidify their authority just two weeks after seizing power.

West African leaders on Thursday increased their threat of imminent military action against Niger after the country’s coup’s leaders moved to consolidate their control two weeks after seizing power.

At an emergency summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), members decided “to order the deployment of the ECOWAS standby force to restore constitutional order in Niger”, its Commission President Omar Touray said.

The bloc had already set a deadline of last Sunday for the military leaders to reinstate Niger’s president Mohamed Bazoum, detained since July 26, or face military intervention.

But the regime ignored the deadline.

The details of any eventual military deployment by ECOWAS states and its impact on Niger were not immediately clear.

The 15-nation bloc is struggling to stem military takeovers that have now swept through four of its members in three years, potentially heralding fresh instability in a region struggling for years against jihadist insurgences.

An attempt this week to send a joint team of ECOWAS, UN and African Union representatives to Niger’s capital Niamey was rejected by the coup leaders.

But the coup leaders on Thursday signalled further defiance by appointing a new government.

A 21-member cabinet will be headed by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian, with generals from the new military governing council leading the defense and interior ministries.

The possibility of military intervention in Niger, a fragile nation that ranks among the world’s poorest, sparked debate within ECOWAS and warnings from neighboring Algeria as well as Russia.

Niger’s neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by military governments that seized power in coups, also warned an intervention would be a “declaration of war” on their countries.

Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, also hit by a recent coup, have been suspended from ECOWAS and like Niger were not represented at the Abuja summit.

In a twist on Wednesday, a former emir of the Nigerian city of Kano said he had met with the coup leaders to help mediate the crisis.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP