ECOWAS regional group of West African states ready to intervene militarily in Niger if diplomatic efforts to topple the coup there fail, a senior official told military chiefs meeting in Ghana on Thursday to discuss the details of a standby force, according to Reuters.

Niger military officers oust President Mohammed Bazoum on July 26 and defied appeals by the United Nations, ECOWAS and Western powers to bring him back, prompting West African heads of state to order a concentration of vigilante forces.

“Let no one be in doubt that if all else fails, the brave forces of West Africa…are ready to answer the call of duty”, said ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah.

“By all available means, constitutional order will be restored to the country»he told the assembled defense chiefs from member countries, citing past ECOWAS operations in Gambia, Liberia and elsewhere as examples of preparedness.

Niger has strategic importance beyond West Africa because of its role as a hub for foreign troops involved in the fight against Islamist insurgents in the Sahel region and its uranium and oil reserves.

Western countries fear the junta could follow the example of neighboring Mali, where the military government expelled the French troops and instead called in mercenaries from the Russian Wagner Group, which welcomed the coup in Niger.

France, whose Niger has been a colony, has denied accusations by the junta that it sought to destabilize the country or that it had violated its airspace. It has declared its support for ECOWAS efforts to restore constitutional order.

French troops, along with US, German and Italian forces, are present in Niger as part of international efforts to fight Islamist insurgents which have caused thousands of deaths and forced millions from their homes in the past decade.