Niger accepts Algerian mediation initiative to restore democratic rule

The military government of Niger has accepted Algeria’s offer to mediate in its political crisis, which was prompted by a coup in July that removed President Mohammed Bazoum from office, the Algerian Foreign Ministry announced on Monday.

This development “reinforces the option of a political solution to this crisis and opens the way to the meeting of the conditions which will allow it to be overcome peacefully in the interest of Niger and the entire region,” the ministry said in a statement.

Algiers has repeatedly opposed military intervention in Niger, which the West African regional authority ECOWAS has threatened to use against Niamey’s coup leaders if they fail to reinstate Bazoum.

The North African country announced in August a six-month transitional plan to restore constitutional and democratic order in neighboring Niger after allegedly rejecting a request from France to fly over its airspace for an armed operation in Niamey.

The initiative from Algiers came in response to Nigerien military ruler General Abdourahmane Tchiani’s proposal to return the West African country to civilian rule within three years, a timeline ECOWAS called a “provocation.”

Ahmed Attaf, Algeria’s foreign minister, who put forth the framework in late August, said the six-point mediation initiative includes the development of political arrangements with the acceptance of all parties involved in the crisis.

The Algerian government said on Monday that it had received an approval notification of the settlement plan from Niger’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, weeks after President Abdelmadjid Tebboune presented the proposal.

President Tebboune had instructed Attaf “to go to Niamey as soon as possible” to “initiate preparatory discussions on the implementation of the Algerian initiative with all stakeholders,” the Algerian Foreign Ministry stated.

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