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Leaders of AU, ECOWAS meet over Adamant Niger junta

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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and African Union (AU) leaders were locked in a meeting yesterday as the deadline set by the regional bloc for the Niger junta to return President Mohamed Bazoum to power expired yesterday. The meeting was virtual.


Also, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu met with governors of states that share a boundary with the Niger Republic in Abuja. 

The meeting was part of consultations by the President on the situation in Niger. 

The communiqué of the meeting was not released as at 11pm press time.

In attendance were governors Ahmed Aliyu (Sokoto), Umar Namadi (Jigawa), Mai Malam Buni (Yobe), Idris Nasir (Kebbi) and Dr Dikko Radda (Katsina).

ECOWAS leaders will this week convene a meeting in Abuja after their virtual meeting to make a crucial decision on the ultimatum.

A source privy to the ECOWAS meeting said a communique will be issued afterwards.

Following a military coup against the democratically elected President of Niger Republic, the ECOWAS states had given a seven-day ultimatum against the junta to vacate office or face dire consequences.

The junta has remained defiant despite ECOWAS threatening to attack. The regional bloc had said the military had until yesterday to return power to the democratically elected president.

The junta has also asked for help from the Russian mercenary group, Wagner, according to an analyst.

The request came during a visit by a member of the Niger junta, General Salifou Mody, to neighbouring Mali, where he made contact with Wagner officers.

ECOWAS defence chiefs finalised an intervention plan on Friday after a mediation team was denied entry to Niger’s capital, Niamey, to meet with junta leader General Abdourahmane Tchiani.

But, Algeria has indicated that it was against any military intervention in Niger, according to its President, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

“A military intervention could ignite the whole Sahel region, and Algeria will not use force with its neighbours,” Tabboune said in an interview with local media.

Along with the EU, Algeria called for unifying political and diplomatic pressures to ensure a return to the “constitutional order” in Niger.

The Alumni Association of the National Institute (AANI) of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, Plateau State also rejected military action

Rising from an emergency meeting, members of AANI strongly condemned the military seizure of power in the Niger Republic but called for caution.

“It supports the efforts of ECOWAS’ towards restoring democracy in the West African country. 

“However, in restoring democracy, ECOWAS should consider the immediate and long-term implications of its actions on the people of the Niger Republic and the wider West African sub-region,” the association said in a statement by its spokesman, Gen. Sani Usman Kukasheka (retd).

A peace-building think tank, Foundation for Peace Professionals (PeacePro), cautioned the ECOWAS against listening to the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) over what it called a mission of military intervention in Niger Republic.

PeacePro noted that USIP’s advocacy for military intervention in Niger betrayed any known peace-building techniques that could foster cooperation and ensure conflict transformation.

The group’s Executive Director, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, expressed his amazement over the statement credited to USIP country manager, Chris Kwaja, urging ECOWAS to use force and bite hard in handling the situation in Niger Republic.

Also, Peace and Conflict Studies expert, Prof. Isaac Albert, urged President Tinubu not to embark on military action against Niger.

Albert, of the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday that the action might be more dangerous, as it was capable of leading to the springing up of more terrorist groups.

“Tinubu should seek the advice of security experts before leading ECOWAS on invading Niger, especially due to Nigeria’s current internal security challenge.

 ”Attacking Niger at this point is not the best option because it may give rise to more terrorist groups to connive and attack Nigeria.

”Yes, Nigeria and ECOWAS may be able to defeat Niger in the short run, but Nigeria may have Boko Haram, Russia-backed Wagner and other terrorist organisations to contend with in the long run.

“We must not forget that the Nigerian army is substantially helping Nigeria to curtail the activities of Boko Haram along its border.

“Moreover, most of the countries claiming to be supporting Nigeria today may be our enemies at the end of the day.

“Furthermore, where will Nigeria and ECOWAS get the required funds to pursue the invasion?

“Ghana, The Gambia, Benin Republic, Cote d’Ivoire Coast, Togo and other ECOWAS member-states, alongside Nigeria, are in economic crises and struggling to satisfy the yawning of their people,” he said.

A professor of Comparative Politics, Gbade Ojo, said that bad governance on the part of civilian leaders brought about recent military take-over in some African countries.

Ojo, of the Department of Political Science, University of Ilorin, pointed out that nothing good would come out of the impending military action against Niger if the citizens of the country had decided to accept the military junta.

According to him, many civilian leaders in Africa are encouraging coups because of their sit-tight leadership style.

ECOWAS, under the chairman of Tinubu, had recently given Niger’s coup leaders up till yesterday to step down and reinstate the democratically-elected president or face military action.

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JUST IN: 7.7-magnitude quake hits Myanmar

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A powerful 7.7 earthquake hit central Myanmar on Friday, close to the country’s second city of Mandalay, home to around 1 million people and historic temple complexes, with tremors shaking buildings as far away as the Thai capital of Bangkok.

Video posted online from both countries showed panicked residents running from swaying residential towers as dust fills the air, and traffic comes to a sudden stop on busy city streets.

Myanmar is already reeling from more than four years of civil war sparked by a bloody and economically destructive military coup, with has seen military forces battle rebel groups across the country.

It remains one of Asia’s poorest nations and is ill-equipped to deal with major natural disasters.

One resident in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial hub and around 380 miles away from the epicenter, told CNN: “We felt the quake for about one minute and then we ran out of the building.”

“We saw other people running out of the buildings too. It was very sudden and very strong.”

Another resident said phone networks in the city home to around 8 million people were briefly down following the quake but were now running again.

Video obtained by CNN from Myanmar appeared to show a road bridge spanning the Irrawaddy River that runs through Mandalay, collapsing into the river in a cloud of dust and water.

The epicenter was in nearby Sagaing region, which has been ravaged by the civil war, with the junta, pro-military militia and rebel groups battling for control and all running checkpoints, making travel by road or river extremely difficult.

In an early indication of the quake’s strength, tremors were felt not just in Thailand, but also China’s southwestern Yunnan province.

Video posted to X showed the collapse of a building in Chatuchak Park, Bangkok. The building, which appeared to be under construction, fell in a matter of seconds, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The National Institute for Emergency medicine says 43 people were trapped in the building while seven others have been injured.

A resident in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai, who also did not want to be named, said “I felt it for about ten seconds in my room then I figured out I couldn’t stay inside. So I rushed out on to the street.”

CNN

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World Heritage site in danger as South Korea wildfires continue to rage

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The wildfires plaguing South Korea’s southeast region continued to rage on Tuesday, threatening a world heritage site and forcing thousands more residents to evacuate their homes.

With a population of 150,000 people, the city of Andong, home to Hahoe Village, a UNESCO World Heritage site, issued an alert to its residents to evacuate to safe areas.

Deadly wildfires continued to rage across the region as authorities designated the affected counties ‘special disaster zones’.

No fewer than four people have been killed and hundreds forced to flee their homes since blazes broke out in several areas on Saturday, stoked by strong winds and dry weather.

It was gathered that the wildfires have already gutted local landmarks including ancient Buddhist temples.

“Because this is such an old temple, it is so regrettable and heartbreaking that it has been burned down,” said Jeung Meung-suk, a 55-year-old Buddhist follower at Unramsa, a thousands-year old temple whose most buildings were burnt.

Meanwhile, acting President Han Duck-soo on Tuesday vowed to deploy resources from helicopters to workers on the ground to put out the fires as quickly as possible.

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US offers $15 million for Chinese nationals accused of aiding Iran

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The United States government has placed a bounty on Liu Baoxia, also known as Emily Liu, and three other Chinese nationals accused of supporting Iran.

The 43-year-old woman, a “procurement agent and arms broker”, is on the most wanted list of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Liu, Li Yongxin (Emma Lee), Yung Yiu Wa (Stephen Yung) and Zhong Yanlai (Sydney Chung) allegedly aided IRGC armaments production and sales through delivery of U.S. dual-use technology.

The Department of State, through its Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, is offering a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to their arrest.

The U.S. is working to disrupt the financial mechanisms of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its branches, all designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The government accused the IRGC of financing terrorist attacks globally, “including via its external proxies such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran-backed militia groups in Iraq.”

A statement by the department said the IRGC partly funds its terrorist activities through sales of military equipment, including unmanned aerial vehicles or drones.

On Thursday, the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced it had sanctioned a “teapot” oil refinery and its chief executive officer.

The allegedly purchased and refined hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian crude oil from vessels linked to the Ansarallah, aka the Houthis, and the Iranian Ministry of Defense of Armed Forces Logistics.

Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated that the teapot refinery’s purchases of Iranian oil “provide the primary economic lifeline for the Iranian regime.”

Bessent reiterated America’s commitment to “cutting off the revenue streams that enable Tehran’s continued financing of terrorism and development of its nuclear program.”

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