Human rights lawyer Femi Falana, SAN, on Sunday, warned the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is legally obligated to seek the consent of the United Nations Security Council to undertake any interventions in Niger Republic.
The warning comes on the heels of a one-week ultimatum issued by the President Bola Tinubu-led ECOWAS last Sunday to putschists in the West African nation, demanding the release and reinstatement of Niger’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, who has been held by the military for over 10 days.
Falana, in a statement, pointed that ECOWAS is required to seek and obtain the authorisation of the UN Security Council to launch an attack on a sovereign nation pursuant to Article 53(1) of the United Nations Charter.
Citing Article 53(1), the senior advocate said, “The Security Council shall, where appropriate, utilize such regional arrangements or agencies for enforcement action under its authority.
“But no enforcement action shall be taken under regional arrangements or by regional agencies without the authorization of the Security Council….”
According to him, this means that the conduct of the ECOWAS, as a regional arrangement, is subject to the provisions of the United Nations Charter, particularly article 53(1) and general international law.
“Therefore, the ECOWAS can not justify any intervention in Niger without the authorisation of the Security Council,” he said.
“It is also clear that any intervention by the ECOWAS, apart from being subject to the authorisation of the Security Council, must be on a collective basis and not a unilateral one.”
Falana added that in the absence of explicit Security Council authorisation, any intervention by the ECOWAS would be illegal, unless it concerns a situation of self-defence, “which is clearly not the case in the situation of the planned intervention in Niger”.