"The aggression, we're waiting for it. [...] The heads of state have said: we're ready, we'll support Niger. We're even ready to withdraw from the Economic Community of [West] African States, because we don't think it would be logical for a community that was created for us to live together to start putting up useless barriers to save particular interests," Coulibaly said.
"I'm telling you that there's a dynamic within the population, especially the youth, for these movements, because the youth have understood that there's always manipulation. [...] They've even said they're ready to act as human shields. And that's pretty important. And that gives our leaders something to think about," he noted.
"We're part of a grouping based on economic considerations, and we're coming together. It's quite shocking to think that among the same states, we want to wage war against each other, or that certain heads of states want to wage war against other countries under the pretext of governance, under the pretext of democracy," the minister stated in a conversation with Sputnik Africa.