West Africa’s regional bloc ECOWAS has said that the heads of state will be meeting on Thursday to discuss their next steps as Niger’s military junta defied its deadline to reinstate the nation’s ousted President Mohamed Bazoum. The junta has also shut down Niger’s airspace and accused other nations of preparing an attack on it.
As per the state television, ECOWAS had warned of using military force if democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum isn’t returned to power.
Junta shuts airspace citing threat
A spokesperson for the coup leaders, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, said Niger’s airspace will be closed until further notice. He cited the “threat of intervention being prepared in a neighbouring country.” He also said that any attempt to fly over the country will face “an energetic and immediate response”. The junta has claimed that two central African nations are preparing for an invasion. However, it did not name any country.
The tension in the region has led to several international airlines diverting flights around Niger’s airspace.
Neighbouring nations
Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger’s neighbours run by military juntas, will send a delegation of officials to niger as a mark of their support. The two nations have said they will consider an intervention in Niger a “declaration of war” against them.
Regional tensions have mounted since Niger’s coup nearly two weeks ago, with the mutinous soldiers detaining Bazoum and installing Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, former head of the presidential guard, as head of state.
Analysts say the coup is believed to have been triggered by a power struggle between Tchiani and the president, who was about to fire him.
It was not immediately clear what ECOWAS leaders will do now. The region is divided on a course of action. There was no sign of military forces gathering at Niger’s border with Nigeria, the likely entry point by land.
Nigeria’s Senate has pushed back on the plan to invade, urging Nigeria’s president, the bloc’s current chair, to explore options other than the use of force. ECOWAS can still move ahead, as final decisions are made by consensus by member states.
Guinea and neighbouring Algeria, which is not an ECOWAS member, have come out against the use of force. Senegal’s government has said it would participate in a military operation if it went ahead, and Ivory Coast has expressed support for the bloc’s efforts to restore constitutional order.
The junta does not appear interested in negotiation. An ECOWAS delegation sent to Niger last week for hours of talks was not allowed to leave the airport and met only with Tchiani’s representatives.
The junta has also asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which operates in a handful of African countries including Mali, according to Wassim Nasr, a journalist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Centre.
(With Associated Press inputs)