International

Leaders of AU, ECOWAS meet over Adamant Niger junta

Published

2 years ago

August 7, 2023

7 Views

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.

International

South African Court Halts Burial of Former Zambian President Mid-Ceremony

Published

1 day ago

June 25, 2025

Charles Flames

19 Views

In a dramatic turn of events, a South African court has intervened to halt the burial of a former Zambian president, president Edgar Lungu, temporarily suspending the proceedings mid-ceremony.

Lungu, who died on June 5 while seeking medical care in South Africa, was a rival of President Hakainde Hichilema, who wanted to lead a state funeral for his predecessor in Zambia.

Lungu’s family opposed the plans and blocked his body from being repatriated, saying he would not have wanted Hichilema at his funeral.

Zambia in turn filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the burial in South Africa.In a ruling delivered as Lungu’s widow and other mourners were already gathered in the church, a Gauteng region High Court judge said that, after an agreement between the parties, “respondents undertake not to proceed with the funeral or burial of the late president”.

The case will be heard on August 4, he said, in a decision that was carried by national broadcaster SABC — which also showed live images of people gathered for the service for Lungu, president from 2015 to 2021.

The adjournment “is extending the pain, the grief, that the family and the people are going through”, Zambian lawmaker Chanda Katotobwe, part of the delegation present at the memorial service, told SABC News.

The cause of the former president’s death at age 68 was not announced. He had been receiving specialised treatment in a clinic in Pretoria, his Patriotic Front party said.

International

Cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles, including 800 EVs, sinks in the Pacific Ocean

The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.

Published

2 days ago

June 24, 2025

OhiBaba

11 Views

A cargo ship that caught fire earlier this month in the Pacific Ocean has sunk, its manager has said.

MINT reports that The Morning Midas, which was left abandoned as it caught fire, was carrying about 3,000 vehicles, among which around 800 were electric vehicles.

Electric vehicles contain lithium-ion batteries, which are generally safe but can overheat and ignite if damaged.

The shipping company said that the cargo ship had sunk on June 23.

Zodiac Maritime in a statement further said that the damage caused by the fire was compounded by heavy weather, and subsequently water entered inside the vessel, causing it to sink.

Credit: MINT

Crime

JUST IN: Russia attacks Ukraine, kill 11

Published

2 days ago

June 24, 2025

Charles Flames

39 Views

Russian missiles on Tuesday crashed into schools, hospitals and kindergartens in central Ukraine, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens more in a region coming under mounting pressure.

The attacks came as President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the Netherlands to meet with allies on the sidelines of the NATO defence alliance summit.

He is expected to meet with US President Donald Trump on Wednesday to discuss more sanctions on Russia and arms procurement, a senior Ukrainian source told AFP.

Emergency services in the Dnipropetrovsk region, now threatened by Russian battlefield advances, published photos of rescuers helping civilians covered in blood after the attack.

“This is not a fight where it’s hard to choose a side. Standing with Ukraine means defending life,” Zelensky said after the attack.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said the strikes amounted to a “rejection of peace” from Russia, which has rejected US and Ukrainian ceasefire proposals.

“It is a matter of credibility for allies to step up pressure on Moscow,” Andriy Sybiga said.

Ukrainian police said 11 residents of Dnipro were killed and two more were left dead in the nearby town of Samar. More than 100 people were wounded, according to a statement.

Police added that an administrative building, shops, educational facilities and a children’s hospital were damaged.

– Toddler killed –

Russian forces, which invaded Ukraine just over three years ago, recently claimed to have reached the border of the central industrial Dnipropetrovsk region, to gain a foothold there for the first time of the war.

The attacks on Dnipro city, the region’s capital, came just hours after deadly overnight drone attacks.

Three people including a toddler were killed earlier in the northeastern Sumy region that borders Russia during the barrage, local officials said.Oleg Grygorov, head of the Sumy region’s military administration, said a five-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a destroyed house.

“The strike took the lives of people from different families. They all lived on the same street. They went to sleep in their homes but the Russian drones interrupted their sleep — forever,” he said.

One man died next to his spouse in a Ukrainian drone strike on Russia’s western border region of Belgorod, the region’s governor said, adding that the woman survived the attack.

Another drone had targeted a residential building in Moscow overnight, wounding two people, including a pregnant woman, the local authorities said.

Russia occupies around a fifth of Ukraine and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions as its own since launching its invasion in 2022 — in addition to Crimea, which it captured in 2014.Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately sabotaging peace talks to prolong its full-scale offensive and to seize more territory.

AFP