Security analyst, Colonel Rtd. Festus Aboagye has called for the root causes of the coup in Niger to be dealt with rather than the use of force option being considered by the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS.

According to him, if the root causes are not addressed, there may be a possibility that the military deployment to Niger may be unsuccessful.

He called for the issue around constitutional re-engineering and election to be looked at.

His comment comes in the wake of President Akufo-Addo advocating for the deployment of military troops to Niger.

President Akufo-Addo agreed to a collective decision by ECOWAS to deploy military troops to restore constitutional order in Niger.

The military intervention also seeks to reinstate the democratically elected President, Mohamed Bazoum who was ousted by the presidential guards.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM’s Top Story, Col Aboagye noted that the era has changed, therefore the need to also change how the country reacts to such situations.

“I have always been cautious about the use of force under international law, and we made reference to ECOMOG because, in that era, we were largely under military rule without democratic legislators ... if we don’t address the root causes, we may have more occasions to launch military interventions,” he said.

He noted it is not advisable to add to that equation by destabilising the centre of power with an external invasion in a country that is already under threat of insurgency and terrorism.

He said,“if care is not taken and the CNSP is unhitched in Niger without a substantive, credible government the force that goes in would end up running up north to the tri-border area to fight the insurgency and that is not going to possible."

He questioned whether Ghana has the logistics, food and medical support to deploy the troops.

Background

On Wednesday, July 26, a coup was declared by a military group in Niger.

The Nigerien president, Mohamed Bazuom has been held captive at the presidential palace in Niamey, since the coup was declared.

The United States and other organisations such as ECOWAS  have since been calling for the immediate release of the president.

ECOWAS on July 30, gave a one-week ultimatum to the junta to cede power and imposed financial sanctions on the country under the coup leaders.

But the coup plotters did not give in to the threats from ECOWAS.

On Thursday, August 10, the coup plotters announced the formation of a new government hours before the ECOWAS meeting scheduled on the same day.

Meanwhile, there have been considerations to deploy military troops to Niger.