Mahamat Idriss Déby met on Sunday in Niamey with President Mohammed Bazoum, still detained at the presidential palace, and the former Nigerien head of state, Mahamadou Issoufou. The Chadian transitional president, whose country is not a member of ECOWAS but which is a neighbor of Niger, went there to try to find a way out of the crisis.
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This Sunday, July 30, 2023, the transitional president of Chad, Mahamat Idriss Déby, was invited to the extraordinary summit of heads of state of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which his country is not a member. A summit dedicated to the coup in Niger. He then left the summit for Niamey, in order to carry out ” in-depth discussionss”. Officially, he was therefore not appointed mediator. But he is going there in a private capacity to help resolve this crisis, with the blessing of West African heads of state.
After having made a brief consultation visit to Abuja in Nigeria this morning at the invitation of the Nigerian President, Chairman-in-Office of ECOWAS, I completed my trip with a visit to #Niger which is going through a major political crisis.
In Niamey, I had… pic.twitter.com/jxiM0TCiXS
— Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno (@GmahamatIdi) July 30, 2023
Chad has a great community of interests with Niger and Nigeria
Even though Chad officially belongs to the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS), N’Djamena has made a Sahelian turn for the past ten years, by projecting part of its army towards West Africa. , where his warlike qualities are highly valued. Chadian soldiers are notably deployed in Tera, in Niger precisely.
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His invitation to participate in the ECOWAS summit, Sunday in Abuja, is therefore not a surprise for Seidik Abba, a specialist in the Sahel, who recalls that this country has a great community of interests with Niger and Nigeria, and above all has an associate member status of ECOWAS. And this is not the first time that a Chadian head of state has been invited to the conclaves of this organization, he recalls.
An initiative ” personal » but with the consent of ECOWAS and CNSP
Officially, his departure for Niamey is an initiative personal “: Mahamat Idriss Déby went there to try to contribute ” to the settlement of the crisis in Niger “, according to the spokesman of the Chadian government. But it was a trip he made with the consent of ECOWAS and the military junta of Niger, which opened its airspace to him, underlines a Chadian official.
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Chad’s transitional president is a professional soldier. He was the second in command of the Chadian contingent based in Mali in 2013 and personally knows all the military leaders in the region. ” The heads of state of ECOWAS have undoubtedly considered that he is able to speak to the Nigerien putschists who speak the same language as him “, analysis Seidik Abba.
” A little surprising to present it as a paragon of democracy in the region »
Same analysis from Antoine Glaser, a journalist specializing in Africa, who was Philippe Lecaplain’s guest on RFI: ” Mahamat Idriss Déby trekked with them in the Ifoghas massif in Mali, with French soldiers. And it’s true that it’s a bit to talk about general to general and also between soldiers. And it is true that the other presidents of ECOWAS, of the region, are civilians. And there, we see that, while Chad does not belong to ECOWAS, it is the ECOWAS emissary to speak to the general because they know each other. »
Antoine Glaser also points out: “ It is sure that it seems a little surprising to see that he is chosen against a putschist. He did not come from a putsch, but he came from a dynasty and there were nevertheless extremely violent opposition demonstrations in Ndjamena which were repressed very violently. It is true that it seems a bit surprising to present him as a paragon of virtue and democracy in the region. »