The meeting of chiefs of staff of ECOWAS member countries scheduled for this Saturday, August 12, is postponed to next week for “technical reasons” and will be held in Accra, Ghana, and not in Abuja, Nigeria.
At their next meeting, the chiefs of staff will work on a plan for a possible intervention in Niger.
After the Niamey coup, the first meeting of chiefs of staff of ECOWAS member countries was held in Abuja, but the second will be held in Accra. For what ? This is to show that the possible military intervention of ECOWAS in Niger is not the only affair of Nigeria, but of an entire organization, explains an African diplomat.
The Ghanaian capital is also known to be the laboratory for joint military operations in the sub-region, recalls our regional correspondent, Serge Daniel. Several joint operations planning has already taken place at the army headquarters in Accra. On site, the working conditions are met. Indiscreet journalists are kept at a distance.
Ghana and the countries of the Gulf of Guinea launched, in 2017, the Counter-Terrorism Program called “the Accra Initiative”. It was then a question of trying to stem the progression of jihadist groups towards the South. This forum has since opened in Mali and Niger and in 2022 welcomed Nigeria as an observer. The European Union is also following the work of this group since Charles Michel, the President of the European Council, made the trip to the last summit in November last year.
Next to it, there is the ECOWAS “Waiting Force” to also fight against terrorism. A meeting in Accra also makes it possible to better coordinate actions from now on.
This article is originally published on .rfi.fr
