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Niger Coup: ECOWAS Hints at Possible Military Intervention, Coup Leaders Threaten to Kill the President

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu during the (ECOWAS) summit (AP)
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu during the (ECOWAS) summit (AP)
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Niger Coup: ECOWAS Hints at Possible Military Intervention, Coup Leaders Threaten to Kill the President

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu during the (ECOWAS) summit (AP)
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu during the (ECOWAS) summit (AP)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) approved military intervention in Niger "as soon as possible" to restore constitutional order, announced Ivory Coast's President Alassane Ouattara on Thursday.

"The chiefs of staff will have other conferences to finalize things, but they have the agreement of the Conference of Heads of State for the operation to start as soon as possible," said Ouattara as he returned from the emergency ECOWAS summit.

ECOWAS decided to deploy the organization's standby force for possible use against the junta in Niger and demand the return of the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to office.

The ECOWAS Chair, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, said after a summit to discuss the coup in Niger: "No option is taken off the table, including the use of force as a last resort."

An official statement was read out, which included a resolution asking the bloc's defense chiefs to "activate the ECOWAS Standby Force with all its elements immediately," according to Reuters.

ECOWAS Commission President Omar Touray said after the extraordinary summit that the organization had ordered the deployment of the ECOWAS reserve force to restore constitutional order in Niger.

Representatives of the junta told US Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week, a Western military official told the Associated Press (AP).

The summit, which Nigeria hosted Thursday, was held to discuss the response of the ECOWAS leaders after the military junta in Niamey challenged their previous threat to use force to restore democracy.

The meeting, which included closed-door talks, occurred hours after the coup leaders formed a new government, which imposed itself on the summit's agenda before it began.

Since the July 26 coup, the military council rejected diplomatic initiatives and ignored the August 06 deadline set by ECOWAS to relinquish power and free Bazoum to exercise his mandate.

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UN Report: 1.1 Billion People in Acute Poverty

A woman sweeps the veranda at the Grande Hotel in Beira, Mozambique on October 12, 2024. (Photo by Zinyange Auntony / AFP)
A woman sweeps the veranda at the Grande Hotel in Beira, Mozambique on October 12, 2024. (Photo by Zinyange Auntony / AFP)
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UN Report: 1.1 Billion People in Acute Poverty

A woman sweeps the veranda at the Grande Hotel in Beira, Mozambique on October 12, 2024. (Photo by Zinyange Auntony / AFP)
A woman sweeps the veranda at the Grande Hotel in Beira, Mozambique on October 12, 2024. (Photo by Zinyange Auntony / AFP)

More than one billion people are living in acute poverty across the globe, a UN Development Program report said Thursday, with children accounting for over half of those affected.

The paper published with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) highlighted that poverty rates were three times higher in countries at war, as 2023 saw the most conflicts around the world since the Second World War.

The UNDP and the OPHI have published their Multidimensional Poverty Index annually since 2010, harvesting data from 112 countries with a combined population of 6.3 billion people, AFP reported.

It uses indicators such as a lack of adequate housing, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, nutrition and school attendance.

"The 2024 MPI paints a sobering picture: 1.1 billion people endure multidimensional poverty, of which 455 million live in the shadow of conflict," said Yanchun Zhang, chief statistician at the UNDP.

"For the poor in conflict-affected countries, the struggle for basic needs is a far harsher and more desperate battle," Zhang told AFP.

The report echoed last year's findings that 1.1 billion out of 6.1 billion people across 110 countries were facing extreme multidimensional poverty.

Thursday's paper showed that some 584 million people under 18 were experiencing extreme poverty, accounting for 27.9 percent of children worldwide, compared with 13.5 percent of adults.

It also showed that 83.2 percent of the world's poorest people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

Sabina Alkire, director of the OPHI, told AFP that conflicts were hindering efforts for poverty reduction.

"At some level, these findings are intuitive. But what shocked us was the sheer magnitude of people who are struggling to live a decent life and at the same time fearing for their safety -- 455 million," she said.

"This points to a stark but unavoidable challenge to the international community to both zero in on poverty reduction and foster peace, so that any ensuing peace actually endures," Alkire added.

India was the country with the largest number of people in extreme poverty, which impacts 234 million of its 1.4 billion population.

It was followed by Pakistan, Ethiopia, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The five countries accounted for nearly half of the 1.1 billion poor people.