A delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) visited on Saturday Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, deposed during the military coup in late July, to assess conditions of his detention and request for his release, media said.
The delegation of the bloc arrived in the Nigerien capital of Niamey to again demand that the rebel military restore the constitutional order, the media reported.
The meeting between Bazoum and the group of West African delegates led by ex-Nigerian President Abdulsalami Abubakar took place in the presence of appointed by the coup leaders Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine.
A coup took place in Niger on July 26. Bazoum was ousted and detained by his own guard, led by Tchiani. Following the coup, ECOWAS suspended all financial aid to Niger, froze rebels' assets and imposed a ban on commercial flights to and from the country.
In early August, during a summit in the Nigerian capital of Abuja, leaders of the West African bloc agreed to activate a standby force to potentially compel the Nigerien military to reinstate Bazoum.
On Friday, ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs Abdel-Fatau Musah said that ECOWAS general staff chiefs had agreed on a date for the beginning of military intervention, but would not make it public.