COTONOU, Aug 4, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Benin's foreign minister on Friday said diplomacy should be the preferred solution to the coup in Niger while pledging Cotonou's full support for west African bloc ECOWAS' efforts to resolve the crisis.

"The position of ECOWAS, to which Benin adheres, is to free and reinstate President Bazoum," Olushegun Adjadi Bakari told a media briefing in Cotonou -- though he suggested that could change.

"Ongoing diplomatic actions remain the preferred solution for all for the moment. But if tomorrow... whatever actions ECOWAS takes, Benin would align itself with that action as an ECOWAS member," Bakari said.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), chaired by Nigeria, has imposed tough sanctions on Niamey but also sent a delegation Thursday to meet junta representatives after Niger's military removed elected President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.

ECOWAS, whose delegation failed to meet with coup leader Abdourahamane Tiani, has given the military rulers until Sunday to put Bazoum back in post and warned it could otherwise intervene.

But the junta responded it would respond with force.

On Wednesday, ECOWAS described force as a last resort and said it wanted to see a diplomatic solution.

ECOWAS states' general chiefs of staff were meeting in Abuja Friday to discuss Niger while several West African states, including Senegal, have pledged to send in troops should the bloc intervene.

The coup leaders have promised an "immediate riposte" to any outside "aggression."

Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, both ruled by army juntas following coups in the past three years and both currently suspended from ECOWAS, have offered backing to Niamey's military leaders.

Both states have also warned they would consider an armed intervention a "declaration of war."