West African defence chiefs met in Ghana on Thursday to discuss a possible military intervention in Niger after coup leaders there ignored their deadline to step down. Nigeria has emerged as the strongest voice pushing for military action but all the ECOWAS leaders at the summit said diplomacy remains their preferred route out of the crisis.
In other news, more than 60 people are feared dead after a boat carrying mostly Senegalese migrants capsized off the coast of Cape Verde in the Atlantic Ocean. Thirty-eight people were rescued on Tuesday. It’s still unclear when exactly the incident happened.
Libya is reeling from the most violent clashes to rock the capital in recent years which killed at least 45 people and wounded over 140. The fighting was triggered by the seizure of the leader of the powerful 444 brigade, Mahmoud Hamza, by the Special Deterrence Forces on Monday. Hamza was released on Thursday while the Tripoli-based prime minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, warned he would not tolerate further militia clashes.
