Public statement Posté le 07:27 03-08-2023, modifié le 07:27 03-08-2023 par Tournons La Page
Tournons La Page is closely monitoring the current situation in Niger, and calls on all parties to exercice restraint, engage in dialogue and use peaceful, legal means to ensure a rapid return to constitutional order.
Tournons La Page (TLP) is outraged by the forcible seizure of power in Niger, and unequivocally condemns the coup d'état. The suspension of the constitutional order by the military junta of the Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie (National Council for the Safeguard of the Motherland) is a serious step backwards for democracy and a real obstacle to the development of Niger.
Tournons La Page also calls on ECOWAS and regrets the threats of military intervention, which legitimize the ruling military junta in the eyes of part of the Niger population and would lead to pointless killings and a conflagration in the region. TLP is once again astonished that the sanctions announced following the July 30 summit refer to the 2001 Additional Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance, when it is due to ECOWAS' failure to apply its own rules that the region is experiencing such a dramatic regression in terms of security and politics. Indeed, the institution has never ensured the application of the additional protocol when constitutional coups d'état were perpetrated, when electoral fiddling was denounced or when heads of member states used their country's justice system to get rid of troublesome political opponents, thus depriving their countries of checks and balances. Nor does it react when corruption, even though prohibited by this protocol, gangrenes the sub-region and reduces populations to extreme poverty. Finally, the means of action provided for by ECOWAS texts in the event of a coup d'état is the suspension of the country until a return to democratic order, as opposed to an armed intervention or widespread economic sanctions, which primarily affect the population.
In the name of non-violence, which is a basic principle of our movement, we call on all parties to put dialogue and the best interests of the people of Niger first, who have been the victims of insecurity, violent extremism and bad governance and their deleterious consequences for several years.
Committed to the promotion and defense of a true democracy that is more than just window-dressing, and aware of the solidarity of interest and destiny between Niger and the other countries of the region, Tournons La Page calls on ECOWAS, the African Union and the international community to :
- Put an end to the martial injunctions that are digging the foundations of a major crisis in a region already undermined by the violence of terrorism;
- Lift the economic sanctions imposed on the people of Niger;
- Encourage the rapid launch of a reliable and effective republican transition to restore constitutional order in Niger, while protecting its most vulnerable populations;
- Support a more efficient process for the establishment and consolidation of a democracy in which the people of Niger recognize themselves and their legitimate aspirations;
- Ensure the serious and credible application of the provisions of the additional protocol on democracy and good governance.
Similarly, Tournons La Page urges the Nigerien military junta to :
- Return to constitutional order by reinstating Niger's institutions and Constitution;
- Do not inflame tensions or fuel radical rhetoric that could lead to war.
PRESS CONTACTS:
Marc ONA ESSANGUI
President of Tournons La Page
onamarc@protonmail.com
Tél : +241 66 26 06 17
Mathieu POURCHIER
Executive Secretary of Tournons La Page
mathieu.pourchier@tournonslapage.org
Tél : +33 7 56 27 99 29
