Abuja — Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) special mediators on the political crisis in Niger Republic, former Nigerian head of state, Abdulsalami Abubakar and the Liberian President, Ellen Sirleaf, have arrived Niger with the regional message that President Mahmud Tandja comply with the resolution that proposed elections be suspended and negotiations resumed as a way of resolving the constitutional impasse via peaceful means.

Abdulsalami and Sirleaf were dispatched after Saturday's meeting of ECOWAS in Abuja convened and presided by President Umaru Musa YarÁdua.

The extra ordinary summit of the regional body was convened as an intervention on the constitutional crisis in the tiny west African country.

ECOWAS is demanding an immediate negotiation between Tandja and the opposition parties to bring to an end the impasse, which has characterised the polity for some months.

ECOWAS mediation and security council had earlier met in Abuja, on August 24, on the situation in Niger, where the authorities claimed a recent referendum had paved the way for the president to change the constitution so he could remain in office for another three years. The council is one of mechanisms for dealing with the security situation in the West Africa sub-region.

President Mamadou Tandja of Niger Republic, who has been in power since 1999, has cracked down on the press and critics of his tenure-elongation plan after dissolving the constitutional court and the parliament and assuming the power to rule the Uranium-rich country by decree.

The opposition has continued to insist that President Tandja, 71, must respect the constitution and step down in December, when his constitutionally-allowed two five-year term in office are due to expire.

The president has countered by saying that the people want him to remain in office.

The ECOWAS commission had been engaged in efforts to get the Nigerien authorities to abide by their constitution and the ECOWAS Additional Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance.

Gen. Abubakar, also travelled to Niger as a special envoy of the ECOWAS Chairman, President Yar'Adua, while a delegation of the ECOWAS council of elders have also intervened in the crisis.

In July, a tripartite delegation including the ECOWAS commission president, UN's top representative in West Africa, Said Djinnit and an African Union envoy to Niger Republic, Ambrose Niyonsaba, met with President Tandja in Niamey in an effort to diffuse the crisis.

Tandja's supporters claimed the overwhelming 'yes' votes in the August 4 referendum had strengthened the president's hand and paved the way for him to stay on, despite growing international criticism and threat of sanction.

During the Abuja meeting, ECOWAS had threatened to sanction Tandja if he fails to listen and abide by the resolution of the body,as Tandja's unconstitutional actions are a panacea to internal and regional conflict, crisis, political instability and security.

The violation has equally been responsible for the mass negation of human rights,acts of massacre,rape and other atrocities being committed against those who oppose the elongation plot of the outgoing president.

ECOWAS is said to be furious about the planned sanction if Tandja refused to softpedal on his naked ambition.

Tandja Mamadou,a retired colonel and born in 1938, is a Nigerien politician who has been the President of Niger since 1999. He was President of the National Movement of the Development Society (MNSD) from 1991 to 1999 and unsuccessfully ran as the MNSD's presidential candidate in 1993 and 1996 before being elected to his first term in 1999. While serving as President of Niger, he was also Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States from 2005 to 2007 and was deeply opposed to unconstitutional means by which elected presidents seeks to continue in office against the wishes of their people.But today,he is surprising pursuing such an unpopular agenda against his people,prompting ECOWAS to call him to order.

Tandja is said to be of Fula and Kanuri ancestry. He is the first President of Niger who is not ethnically Hausa or Djerma.