Senegal said Thursday that it will participate if the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decides to intervene militarily in Niger following last week’s coup. Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall told reporters during a government press briefing in the capital Dakar that there had been “one coup too many” in the region and cited Senegal’s international commitments.
Regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened potential use of force if the junta does not restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum by Sunday.
Niger is the fourth member of the bloc to undergo a putsch since 2020.
The military chiefs of ECOWAS member countries met in Nigeria on Wednesday for three days of consultations.
Tall Sall said Senegal was obligated to go along with ECOWAS’s decisions.
But she added, “Senegal’s conviction is that these coups must be stopped — that’s why we are going there”.
She also raised the question of why ECOWAS would send troops to Niger when it had not done so in Mali, Guinea or Burkina Faso following coups in those countries.