West African leaders recognise Niger’s junta but say sanctions will remain

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, right, attends an ECOWAS meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, on Sunday (AP)

West African heads of state on Sunday officially recognised the junta in power in Niger, but said their sanctions to reverse the July coup in the country would remain even as they initiate steps for a “short” period of transition to civilian rule.

A team of heads of state would engage with the junta “to agree on a short transition programme” as against the three years the soldiers earlier proposed, Omar Alieu Touray, president of the regional bloc of ECOWAS Commission, said at the bloc’s meeting in the Nigerian capital of Abuja.