Can Ecowas really intervene militarily in Africa?

In late July 2023, the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) set: “within one week, take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order in the Republic of Niger”, and they do not exclude that “[s]uch measures may include the use of force”, and therefore to intervene militarily in Niger. Indeed, in international politics, sometimes a State or group of States claims the existence of a “right of intervention”, which may be “humanitarian”, to justify a military intervention such as NATO’s operation in Kosovo in 1999, which was not authorized by the United Nations Security Council. However, in the current state of positive international law, it…