West African leaders on Sunday kept sanctions imposed on Niger after a July military coup and demanded progress towards a short transition to civilian rule before easing the measures, Report informs via France 24.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders met for a summit in Nigeria's capital Abuja with the region in crisis after coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Niger since 2020 and two attempted coups elsewhere in recent weeks.
ECOWAS commission President Omar Touray said a heads of state group from Benin, Togo and Sierra Leone would engage with Niger regime's CNSP leadership to decide on progress towards a transition and other conditions for lifting sanctions.
"Based on the outcomes of the engagement by the committee of heads of state with the CNSP, the authority will progressively ease the sanctions imposed on Niger," Touray said at the closing of the summit.
"Failure by the CNSP to comply with the outcomes of engagement with the committee, ECOWAS shall maintain all sanctions."
International attention has focussed on the region's most recent coup in Niger, when troops ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, prompting ECOWAS to impose tough sanctions and suspend trade.
Under military rule, Niger -- a key Western partner in the fight against Sahel militants -- has demanded that French troops based there leave, while the US still has military personnel in the country.
The withdrawal of French troops from the Sahel -- the region stretching along the Sahara across Africa -- has heightened fears jihadist violence will spread southward to Gulf of Guinea ECOWAS states of Ghana, Togo, Benin and Ivory Coast.