The Committee of Chiefs of Defence Staff of the Economic Community of West African States has commenced the activation of the ECOWAS Standby Force for the restoration of constitutional order in the Republic of Niger.

A statement by the ECOWAS commission on Wednesday said the action was a follow-up to the directive of the Authority of Heads of State and Government at its Extraordinary Summit on August 10 in the FCT, Nigeria’s capital.

The statement said the Chiefs of Defence Staff will be having an extraordinary meeting in Accra, Ghana from the 17 of August to finalise plans for the deployment of Force.

Volunteer force

Meanwhile, Nigeriens say they are preparing for war against regional countries that threaten to invade, three weeks after soldiers ousted the nation’s democratically elected president.

Residents in the capital, Niamey, were said to be calling for the mass recruitment of volunteers to assist the army in battling the ECOWAS ‘army’.

The initiative, spearheaded by a group of locals in Niamey, aims to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers from across the country to register for the Volunteers for the Defence of Niger.

A recruitment drive will be launched Saturday in Niamey and in cities that share a border with Nigeria and Benin, two countries, that have said they would participate in an intervention to restore democratic rule in NIger.

Abdullahi Lamino

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