EU foreign policy chiefs meet to discuss response

The heads of diplomacy of the European Union (EU) will meet on Thursday August 30 in Spain to discuss the response to the coup d’etat that took place in Niger at the end of July. Instability in West and Central Africa will be one of the major themes of the meeting, as soldiers also took power in Gabon on Wednesday.

The war in Ukraine will also be on the agenda of this informal meeting organized in Toledo, which will be attended by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Niger’s foreign minister in the ousted government, Hassoumi Massoudou, and the president of the Commission of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Omar Touray, will also attend the discussions.

Penalties

“It is obvious that the coup in Niger opens a new era of instability in the region, which was already very fragile, and this will compromise the stability of the region”, said Wednesday the spokesman for European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. European officials said they were still trying to make sense of the tragic events that unfolded in the early hours of Wednesday in Gabon.

Mr Borrell said the EU “was progressing” in the development of a legal framework for sanctions against the military junta that took power in Niger, and that the ministers would discuss it on Thursday. Although the EU and ECOWAS have already imposed economic and political sanctions after the July 26 coup, putting in place a legal framework would allow the EU to target individuals and organizations.