On Saturday, 10 September 2023, the Nigerian junta accused France of planning an aggression, explaining that Paris «continues to deploy its forces in several ECOWAS countries». «We do not recognize any legitimacy to the statements of the putschists», replied Emmanuel Macron since the G20 summit in India. Within ECOWAS, the possible military intervention against the perpetrators of the coup d’état at the end of July in Niamey remains an eventuality, even if obviously, we do not hurry.

The boat that had to transport Senegalese troops and others to participate in a possible military intervention against the Nigerien junta should have docked a few days ago at the port of Cotonou. But that is not the case. An interlocutor in the Presidency of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) comments: “There are still adjustments to be made.”

In fact, according to our information, the Senegalese troops are ready, but are waiting for the decision of the politicians. Some wonder: has President Macky Sall changed his opinion on the issue?

Ghana has also agreed to provide troops. They are ready, even if observers wonder: this country facing enormous economic difficulties, does it really have the means to finance the departure of its soldiers to the front?

Nigeria remains. President Bola Tinubu, at first, was the most determined to restore constitutional order in Niger by force if necessary. Abuja is the locomotive of a possible military intervention. But for the past few weeks, Nigeria has taken a step forward and then a step back.

Recall that at the end of August, and for the first time since the beginning of the crisis in Niger, the President of Nigeria and current head of ECOWAS evoked the possibility of a transition «if the military power [in place in Niamey] is sincere». Remarks transcribed in a statement on 30 August by the Nigerian Presidency and denied by ECOWAS had to deny the idea of a «transition calendar»And this, while Nigeria is considered from the beginning as one of the engines of a potential military intervention in Niger.

The opposition collective in Guinea reported the deaths of four young people during clashes with the security forces on Monday and Tuesday, September 05, 2023, the anniversary of the military takeover in 2021.

No comments were received from the authorities.

In a statement published early Wednesday on the Facebook page of one of their main members, the Forces vives, a collective of opposition parties and organizations, report the deaths of four young men aged 15 to 18.

Their deaths bring to 30 the number of people killed by security forces since June 2022, they say. This date corresponds to a hardening of the opposition towards the junta after the restraint initially observed following the seizure of power by the military on September 5, 2021.

Since then, 108 people have been shot and hundreds more have been arbitrarily arrested and detained, say the Forces vives.

The junta led by Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, invested president, banned demonstrations in May 2022. The Forces vives nevertheless called for a march on Tuesday, the anniversary of the putsch, to demand a rapid return of civilians at the head of the country. They accuse the authorities of “confiscation” of power, repression of freedoms and, recently, enrichment.

A large deployment of security forces prevented the march on Tuesday in Conakry. As with every call to protest, clashes have pitted youth groups and security forces in the suburbs of the capital.

The military that overthrew President Alpha Condé in 2021 agreed under international pressure to make way for elected civilians by the end of 2024, time to carry out deep reforms, they say.

The Forces vives accuse the authorities of having done nothing to transfer power. The Minister of the Administration of the Territory Mory Condé on Tuesday assured that the government was “ahead” of the schedule agreed with the regional organization ECOWAS for a return of civilians to the leadership of this poor country with a troubled political history.

The junta defends itself from repressing freedoms.

The news is in the news. Guinea has again announced the suspension of its participation in the OMVS, which it first joined in 1963. Among the reasons cited by Conakry, underrepresentation and delay in the implementation of certain joint projects.

Guinea is no longer a member of the Organization for the Development of the Senegal River. The decision was communicated on 19 July 2023 after the 19th Ordinary Session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the organization in which President Mamady Doumbouya took part videoconference.

At the end of the 19th ordinary session of the Conference, the highest Guinean authorities have noted with regret that the strategic concerns and interests of the Republic of Guinea’s participation in the OMVS have still not been taken into account by the organization since its creation.”

The country denounces “the considerable delay and lack of serious mobilization of funding for the Koukoutamba hydroelectric dam (which must be located on its territory, editor’s note.) and its under-representation both in the staff and in the decision-making bodies of the OMVS”. In addition, the government spokesman, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, explained that it was impossible to invest and subscribe to shares on Thursday 20 July.

Denouncing an injustice, the Guinean executive has indicated that he is now going it alone, and that he plans to resize the Koukoutamba dam, a joint project whose construction was entrusted in 2019 to the Chinese Sinohydro for a budget of 812 million USD. The objective of the infrastructure was to share the energy produced between the four electricity companies of the OMVS member countries.