Sharjah 24 – AFP: The African Union said Tuesday it had suspended coup-hit Niger until civilian rule is restored and announced it would assess the implications of any armed intervention in the Sahel nation.
In a crisis now nearly four weeks old, the West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to use force to reinstate Niger's elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.
The Peace and Security Council "requests the AU Commission to undertake an assessment of the economic, social and security implications of deploying a standby force in Niger and report back to Council," the bloc said, following strong differences on the matter.
Army officers toppled Bazoum on July 26, prompting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to approve activation of a "standby force to restore constitutional order" in Niamey.
The bloc has said it is ready to intervene as a last resort but is continuing to press for a diplomatic solution.
The AU last week held a meeting on the crisis against a backdrop of divergent views within the bloc over any military intervention.
The coup has heightened international worries over the Sahel, which faces growing jihadist insurgencies linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Niger is the fourth nation in West Africa since 2020 to suffer a coup, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.
The new military ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani has proposed a three-year transition back to democracy, a call rejected by ECOWAS, which sent a delegation to visit Niger on the weekend in a final diplomatic push.
Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for politics and security, described the proposal as "a joke" and said the bloc would "never accept it".
"We want constitutional order to be restored as soon as possible," he told Al Jazeera in an interview broadcast on Monday.
"Military action is not off the table," he warned.
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