Nigeria and neighboring Niger have signed an agreement to boost their security cooperation, despite tensions following a coup in Niger more than a year ago.
The Nigerian army announced the security cooperation pact on Tuesday in a communique. The countries' defense chiefs signed the accord this week in Niamey, Niger’s capital.
It's the first military deal between the nations since last July's coup.
The Nigerian military statement said that under the deal, Niger reaffirmed its willingness to resume active participation in the Multinational Joint Task Force, a regional security alliance.
Security analyst Saheed Shehu praised the agreement.
"It's a very good development for Nigeria, for Niger and for the ECOWAS and for West Africa as a subregion," Shehu said. "They actually muddled up the situation after the Niger coup such that for this one year we have been in a stalemate. So this is the first time we're seeing the actual use of military diplomacy, because this followed a visit by the chief of defense staff."
The July 2023 coup — which ousted Niger President Mohamed Bazoum — strained relations with Nigeria, after ECOWAS, led by Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, imposed tough sanctions on Niger and threatened a military invasion.
The West Africa subregion has struggled to stem violence from Islamist militants, including Boko Haram and other armed groups, for years.
Shehu said that if properly implemented, the Nigeria-Niger deal could lead to more positive outcomes for the region and ECOWAS.
"This is an avenue, if we exploit it very critically and with a lot of sense, it will be a way of bringing back not only Niger but also Burkina Faso and Mali," he said. "And what I'll like to advise President Tinubu — who's the chairman of ECOWAS — is to send the same kind of military diplomacy to Mali, probably to Burkina Faso."
In January, aggrieved by ECOWAS's sanctions, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso announced an exit from the regional bloc and later created a confederation. The three nations blamed ECOWAS for failing to tackle insecurity in the region.
Meanwhile, ECOWAS has not ruled out the possibility of a military intervention in Niger but it says it wants to pursue dialogue with the juntas.
Regional political affairs analyst Ahmed Buhari said ECOWAS made mistakes.
"Whether we like it or not, our neighbor might not be doing exactly what we want, but we cannot go to war with our neighbors, especially when we're interconnected on all levels," Buhari said. "There's no way we're going to be fighting insecurities in Nigeria and having these terrorists move into Niger and after a while bounce back. Similarly, if Niger is fighting them and there's no collaboration, they can come to Nigeria take a breather and then pounce back to Niger."
In April, when Nigeria hosted a regional counterterrorism summit in Abuja, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso did not attend.
Nigerien military delegates are expected in Nigeria soon to discuss the military cooperation. Many will be watching to see if the new partnership will change the regional status quo.
