ECOWAS suspends military meeting, Niger's detained president seen by doctor

A crisis meeting between Western African nations on the Niger coup has been postponed to an indefinite date amid growing concerns about the deteriorating health of the detained pro-West President Mohammed Bazoum.

Leaders of the Economic Cooperation of West African Nations (ECOWAS) were due to gather in the Ghanaian capital Accra on Saturday to discuss ways to tackle the Niger crisis after they approved the deployment of a stand-by force to restore constitutional order in Niamey.

Earlier this week, ECOWAS leaders approved a military force to reinstate the ousted president, Bazoum, who was ousted by members of the Presidential Guard on July 26.

ECOWAS Chiefs-of-Staff were scheduled to attend a meeting on Saturday in Accra but later indefinitely suspended it due to "technical reasons".

Sources familiar with the matter said the meeting had been originally set up to inform ECOWAS leaders about "the best options" for activating and deploying the standby force needed to resolve the Niger crisis by enforcing its mandate via diplomatic channels.

"The military option seriously envisaged by ECOWAS is not a war against Niger and its people but a police operation against hostage takers and their accomplices," Niger's Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said on Saturday.

ECOWAS leadership aims to restore democracy in Niger by stopping the junta's takeover. To achieve its goal, ECOWAS members have restricted trade and financial transactions, cut electricity exports and closed borders with the impoverished landlocked country needing imports to sustain itself. Food prices have since risen in the wake of sanctions and the suspension of some international aid to Niger.

In the meantime, thousands of coup supporters took to the streets in Niger's capital city Niamey on Friday, expressing their outrage about ECOWAS's plan to activate and deploy troops to reinstate the ousted Western-backed president.

Demonstrators waved flags of Niger and Russia, chanting support for the junta leadership who ousted Bazoum.

The junta in Niger has accused the African nation's former colonial ruler France, a close Bazoum ally, of being the force behind ECOWAS' determination to restore him to office.

France has around 1,500 troops in Niger as part of a force battling an eight-year extremists insurgency in the Sahel region.

MG