Gauging the Likelihood of a Post-Coup ECOWAS Intervention in Niger

Despite its desire to set a precedent against coup leaders, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will likely struggle to follow through on its threat to forcefully remove Niger's new military government due to political and logistical constraints. Top ECOWAS defense officials will reportedly meet this week to discuss a potential military intervention in Niger after a group of soldiers calling themselves the National Council for the Protection of the Homeland (CNSP) seized the country's government on July 26 -- marking the latest in a string of West African coups. During an emergency ECOWAS meeting on July 30, the 15-nation African bloc announced that it would give the coup leaders in Niger one week to cede power and reinstate the country's democratically elected president before it took ''all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger,'' including the potential use of force. In response to...