West African military chiefs have agreed a plan for a possible intervention in Niger as a deadline nears for the country's junta to restore elected leader Mohamed Bazoum, the AFP news agency quotes an official from regional bloc ECOWAS as saying.
"All the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out, including the resources needed, and including the how and when we are going deploy the force," ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah said on Friday.
"We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done," he added.
The military chiefs were meeting in Nigeria's capital Abuja to discuss ways to respond to the crisis.
The regional bloc earlier this week said that a military intervention in junta-ruled Niger was "the last resort."
ECOWAS leaders on Sunday imposed trade and financial sanctions and gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate Niger's democratically elected president or face the potential use of force.
Chad's position
The bloc has vowed to take a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020, most of them under the pressure of an insurgency.
Mali and Burkina Faso have warned that any military intervention in their neighbour would be tantamount to a "declaration of war" against them.
Meanwhile, Chad says it will not intervene militarily in Niger. The country's defence minister stated this on national television on Friday, just as West Africa's regional bloc said it has devised a possible plan to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
Although Chad is not a member of ECOWAS, it has a key partner with the country's Mahamat Deby attending the bloc's extraordinary meeting on Niger last week and also travelling to Niger to deliver the bloc's message on the need to restore constitutional order.
Chad and Niger share borders and both are affected by insurgencies by armed groups ravaging the Sahel region of Africa.
On his part, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has since requested the country's senate to approve his plan to deploy troops to Niger as part of ECOWA intervention measures.
However, President Tinubu's plan is facing opposition with senators from northern Nigeria which shares border with Niger rejecting military intervention warning the consequences will be bad for Nigeria.
Instead, they urge political and diplomatic means to be pursued to resolve the crisis in Niger.
President detained
The bloc has over the decades deployed a regional force to help restore calm in West African nations experiencing political turmoil.
In 2017, it sent 7,000 troops to Gambia from neighbouring Senegal to compel President Yahya Jammeh to go into exile and cede the presidency to Adama Barrow, who had defeated him in an election.
Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum, 63, was overthrown on July 26 when members of his own guard detained him at the presidency.
Their commander, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, then declared himself leader, but his claim has been condemned internationally.
