2023-08-16 15:33:24
The international community has had its eyes on Niger since the July 26 coup. A final communiqué on the meeting of the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union, which took place in Addis Ababa on August 14, 2023, is still awaited. The question of the sanctions decided by the Economic Community of West African States against Niger did not achieve consensus within the PSC, as African diplomats explained to RFI.
A “difficult”, “very frank”, and “very long” meeting confides an African diplomatic source who sees in it the sign of an awareness of the Member States of an unprecedented situation. “There have been six coups in less than three years” on the continent, recalls this source.
Consequence: “We are facing a reality to which our continental texts no longer correspond” and the meetings of the Peace Security Council, she said, are becoming more and more “difficult”.
According to this same source, the heart of the debates focused on the position of the African Union in relation to the decisions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). “Some, within the Council, wished, she assures, to be able to express reservations and ask for clarifications in the sequence which could lead” to the military option envisaged by ECOWAS.
PSC member countries have been negotiating since August 14 the exact terms of a final communiqué
For his part, another African diplomat, who took part in the meeting, affirms that the countries of southern Africa and North Africa were “up against any military intervention”. Central African countries, still according to this source, have also expressed their disagreement.
At the end of the meeting, the text of the communiqué entered a “silent process” in the words of one diplomat. The member countries of the Peace and Security Council have been negotiating its exact terms since August 14. Because it is a document that “collectively commits us”, reminded our source.
RFI
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