West African military chiefs met in Ghana on Thursday to coordinate a possible armed intervention aimed at reversing the coup in Niger.

"Democracy is what we stand for and it's what we encourage," Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff, General Christopher Gwabin Musa, told the meeting of the ECOWAS bloc in Accra.

"The focus of our gathering is not simply to react to events, but to proactively chart a course that results in peace and promote stability."