Calls to send troops to Niger: I recall how Prof Mills chose diplomacy instead – Anyidoho

Koku Anyidoho
Former Presidential spokesperson under the Mills administration, Samuel Koku Anyidoho has said any move by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to send troops to Niger to deal with the coup makes will amount to declaring war.

He said he remembers how the late former President John Evans Atta Mills chose the path of diplomacy in handling the situation in Ivory Coast at the time when the country was facing political instability.

In a tweet, Mr Anyidoho who is also a former Deputy General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) said “Can ECOWAS use any form of military intervention in Niger? When has that happened before? Which country will commit its troops to war just like that? I recall how Prez Mills used ‘dzi wu fie asem’ [to wit mind your own business] policy to prevent such a move in Ivory Coast – choosing diplomacy instead.”

On this same matter, Builsa North Member of Parliament James Agalga reminded the government of Ghana that deploying troops to another country amounts to declaring war on that country therefore if the decision is taken by the ECOWAS to deploy troops to Niger to restore democracy following the coup that took place, Ghana must seek parliamentary before contributing to the troops to support ECOWAS.

Mr. Agalga, who is a ranking member on the Defense and Interior Committee of Parliament requested the Minister of Defence to table any plan by the government to contribute the troops in Parliament for a thorough debate and approval or otherwise.

Ecowas is expected to hold a summit in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, on Thursday to discuss the crisis in Niger following a military coup.

This was after it gave the coup makers seven days to restore the country to democracy and reinstate the elected president or face the possibility of military intervention.

However, the deadline passed on Sunday with no change to the situation.

A delegation from the military governments of Mali and Burkina Faso is on its way to Niger to express solidarity with the junta.

Speaking on News 360 on TV3 Monday, August 7 while commenting on the situation in Niger, Mr Agalga said the issue has “definitely engaged the attention of the committee but you must remember that we have not gotten to the point where Ghana as a country has so far committed to deploying ECOWAS troops in Niger even though the authorities of heads of state and government of ECOWAS have issued an ultimatum.

“Now, the ultimatum has expired and so we are waiting for the next step to be taken then we can insist that certain things are done in accordance with our practices and procedures.

“If Ghana has to deploy troops to Niger as part of its contribution to the ECOWAS force, we would expect that parliamentary approval will be sought.”

The former Deputy Minister for the Interior added “I have raised issues in the past where Ghana committed to contribute troops to Ecowas mission in The Gambia which sought to remove Yahya Jammeh at the time when he refused to step down after losing to Adama Barrow in an election. Ghana actually contributed to the troops alongside Nigeria and Senegal but the deployment actually happened before the Defence Minister appeared before Parliament and made a statement indicating that Ghaha had actually contributed a certain number of troops to ECOWAS mission in The Gambia.

“We actually had serious problems with that approach, we insisted that if we deploy troops, whether they are part of ECOWAS or not, it amounts to a declaration of war so we would expect that the matter is tabled before Parliament, it is thoroughly debated and if Parliament clears our government to deploy troops we can then go ahead and deploy. Anything short of that will be illegal.”

Source: 3news

Richard Koomson| mediacentralonline.info |Ghana
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