Smiles, hugs, and waves. If there was an unintentional theme to day two of the Brics summit it was friendship. Making new friends, and keeping old ones.
The five BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have announced the admission of six new countries from next year as the club of large and populous emerging economies seeks to reshape the global order.
West Africa's chief mediator in the Niger crisis, ex-Nigerian military leader Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar, has told the BBC that military intervention remains the last option to resolve the situation in the country.
The African Union on Tuesday suspended Niger from all of its institutions and activities “until the effective restoration of constitutional order” following last month’s coup.
West Africa's main regional bloc, ECOWAS, has rejected a proposal by Niger's military junta to hold elections within three years, extending a political impasse that could trigger a military intervention if no agreement is reached following a July coup.
