As the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) continues to explore diplomatic channels to bring back ousted Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, it is yet to rule out the use of force to send the coup leaders back to the barracks.
Since the ECOWAS Chiefs of Defence Staff said they were waiting for a green light to activate their standby force, a lot of questions have been raised, particularly on how practicable military solution would be in Niger.
Stakeholders, who spoke to Daily Trust on Sunday queried the existence of any ECOWAS Standby Force, the readiness of member countries, availability of boots (population of officers), strength and capacity of such force, its operational and legal framework as well as the resources (financing) of the standby force.
Although by its original design, the regional bloc was set up to promote economic integration and cooperation among member states, it has intervened in peacekeeping missions in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea Bissau, among others, through the ECOWAS Monitoring Group (ECOMOG), with the most recent in The Gambia.
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However, the functionality of ECOMOG or any ad-hoc military arrangement had overtime and often been anchored by the Nigerian armed forces with sub-battalion strength units contributed by other ECOWAS members.
What is ECOWAS Standby Force?
President Bola Tinubu, who spoke recently at a meeting of the regional bloc, said the standby force meant the use of force as a last resort if diplomacy failed.
In the same vein, Paul Williams, a security policy expert, said, “The ECOWAS Standby Force is a part of the larger African Standby Force (ASF) structure which comprises five regional forces (Northern, Eastern, Western/ECOWAS, Central and Southern).”
Read more: https://dailytrust.com/where-is-ecowas-standby-force/
