PRETORIA, September 8. /TASS/. About 50 pan-African organizations in 20 countries, including the Thomas Sankara Center, issued a joint declaration condemning ECOWAS (the Economic Community of West African States) sanctions against Niger, the Burkina24 news website reported on Friday.

"The Thomas Sankara Center co-signed, with around fifty revolutionary pan-African organizations in 20 countries around the world, a declaration in the face of sanctions from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) against Niger," the statement reads.

The Burkina 24 news website quoted Fatou Weouei Balora, a member of the Thomas Sankara Center, as saying: "We launch a resounding call for resistance, for disobedience in the face of the dictates of those who feed on our misery."

"We no longer tolerate these power games which deprive our continent of its wealth and its right to self-determination," Fatou Weouei Balora added.

On the situation in Niger

In late July, a group of military rebels in Niger announced the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum. They then established the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (known as CNSP in French: Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie), headed by General Abdourahmane Tchiani, to run the country. ECOWAS reacted by imposing severe sanctions on the rebels, demanding that Bazoum be released and reinstated to office, and threatening to use force.

On August 18, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, following a meeting of the West African bloc’s military chiefs, said that an exact date for the military intervention in Niger had been determined, but it has not yet been announced officially.