Along with Ukraine, it was the situation in Niger that dominated the meeting of European foreign ministers on Thursday in Toledo, Spain. For the Europeans, ECOWAS must keep control and the European Union will follow its initiatives.
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With our correspondent in Brussels, Pierre Benazet
” African solutions for African problems is the position of theEuropean Union following consultations on the Niger that took place in Spain. For this meeting, the Spanish presidency had invited the Gambian Omar Touray, president of the ECOWAS Commission and Hassoumi Massoudou, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the government ousted from power by the junta.
And the EU is ready to listen to all the proposals that the ECOWAS, insists the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell. According to him, all the political tools available to the EU must be used. ” We expressed our full support for the efforts of ECOWAS to put maximum pressure on the Nigerien junta. We favor the diplomatic solution, no one wants a military intervention “, expressed Josep Borrell.
And to add: And military coups are not a solution. In Niger, President Bazoum was the only democratically elected president in the entire Sahel. »
The Europeans have therefore decided to suspend all budgetary, military or security aid for Niger, as well as those which do not directly benefit the population. Sanctions against the putschists are also in preparation.
In any case, for the Europeans, a clear difference must be made with the situation in Gabonwhere a coup d’etat took place just after the proclamation of the results, because the electoral process had caused “ serious concerns of the EU.