Zara Kada serves up dishes of rice, fish and vegetables in plastic bowls to her customers sitting on wooden benches in the capital of Niger’s capital, Niamey. This business is a lifeline for the widowed mother-of-seven but it’s under threat as food prices have shot up after economic sanctions were imposed after the military seized power.
“Not only has the price of rice increased but also that of cooking oil. It’s an increase of 2,500F CFA ($4: £3) in just one week,” she says standing by her small food stall. “This causes us problems because if I prepare the rice and I can’t sell it, there will be no profits, only losses.”
Two weeks ago, Niger’s army deposed the country’s democratically elected President, Mohamed Bazoum, attracting widespread international condemnation.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) is determined to stop yet another military takeover in the region – the sixth in just three years.
“We are drawing the line in the sand,” Ecowas security chief Abdel Fatau Musah tells the BBC.
“There is a contagion and if we do not determinedly stop what has happened there, then which country is next?” he asks.
So Ecowas has reacted quickly, by cutting off financial transactions, electricity supplies and, in a move particularly painful for landlocked Niger, closed its land borders, blocking crucial imports.
Now, after a second emergency summit on the crisis in Niger, regional heads of state have ordered the activation of a standby military force, ready to invade the country should the military continue their hold on power.
Source: BBC
