West African army chiefs are due to hold a second and final day of talks in Ghana's capital Accra, where they have been hashing out the details of a possible military intervention in Niger if diplomacy fails to reverse a military coup.
Military officers deposed Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and others to reinstate him, prompting regional powers to order a stand-by force to be assembled.
During their two-day meeting, which ends with a closing ceremony from about 1600 GMT, the West African bloc defence chiefs have been discussing logistics and other aspects of a possible deployment, according to the official schedule.
The use of force remains a last resort, but "if everything else fails, the valiant forces of West Africa ... are ready to answer to the call of duty", ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security Abdel-Fatau Musah said at the start of the event on Thursday.
He said most of the bloc's 15 member states were prepared to participate in the stand-by force except those also under military rule - Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea - and tiny Cape Verde.
Any escalation would further destabilise West Africa's impoverished Sahel region, which is already battling a decade-old Islamist insurgency.
Niger also has strategic importance beyond West Africa because of its uranium and oil reserves and role as a hub for foreign troops involved in the fight against the insurgents linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
