Niger: NGOs call on ECOWAS to let in humanitarian aid

On Tuesday, international NGOs working in Niger called on the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to ease its sanctions against Niamey to allow emergency humanitarian aid to enter from neighbouring Benin.

The twenty or so organisations are calling for the "immediate reopening" of the border with Benin, which has been blocked because of regional sanctions, to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Niger, where they say more than 4.3 million people need urgent assistance.

At the end of a summit in Abuja on Sunday, ECOWAS maintained the economic and financial sanctions imposed on Niger after the coup d'état on 26 July, making their easing conditional on a "short transition" in particular.