Following the forceful take over by military junta in Niger Republic, there is confusion over the country’s delegation to the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
In late July, Niger’s democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum was ousted in a military coup.
Abdourahamane Tiani, a general, was later declared as the country’s new head of state.
In response to the putsch in the country, ECOWAS, led by President Bola Tinubu, had threatened to deploy force, besides economic and financial sanctions, to reinstate the ousted leader, Mohamed Bazoum.
The Nation learnt that there are two delegations from the country seeking to participate at the General Debate.
The “General Debate” is the formal name for the speeches given at the General Assembly by Presidents, Prime Ministers and diplomats from hundreds of United Nations member states.
Checks by The Nation show Niger was scheduled to speak on Thursday, September 21.
The Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming while speaking to journalists clarified that the onus lies on the credentials committee to work on the recognition.
She said: “We believe that military coups are not the way to change power, but through democratic transitions which are free and fair elections.
“The UN is really making as much effort as it can, to try and push for democracy, and not to acknowledge takeovers of power that are not legitimate.
“For example. Niger Republic is trying to send two different delegations to the UN next week. Everybody wants to keep the UN to recognize them.
“There’s no delegation from the Taliban. If a country is not recognized by the UN, then you know, you’re going to have a hard time; also getting international aid is not going to be easy. We provide support to governments in transition and try to bolster democracies.
“There is a Credentials Committee which is made up of member states that is supposed to be meeting to make a decision on who can be represented.
“We have the same situation with Myanmar. The Credentials Committee hasn’t met yet, which is also as a result of the geopolitical plan tensions. So we’ll have to see in the coming days what the outcome will be. But so far, there’s no one recognized.”