Niger begins a decisive week on Monday the day after the expiration of a West African ultimatum demanding the return to constitutional order after a coup d’etat, under penalty of the use of “force” for the moment no used. If the chiefs of staff of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) drew the “outlines” of a possible armed intervention in Niger, no troop deployment had been officially launched on Monday Morning.
An immediate military intervention to restore President Mohamed Bazoum is not envisaged at this stage, according to a source close to ECOWAS. A summit of the leaders of its member countries will take place in “the next few days” to decide, she added. Despite the rejection of the authors of the coup to date, the path of dialogue therefore seems to be still on the table.
Niger’s airspace closed “until further notice”
The Malian army, for its part, announced on Monday the dispatch to Niamey of a joint official Mali/Burkina Faso delegation, to “show the solidarity of the two countries with the brotherly people of Niger” with the authors of the coup d’etat. . Burkina and Mali, neighbors of Niger, also governed by the military and also facing violence from jihadist groups, have stressed in recent days that an armed intervention would be “a declaration of war” on their two countries.
Sunday evening, shortly before the end at midnight Niger time of the ultimatum sent a week earlier by ECOWAS, the Nigerien military announced that it would close the country’s airspace “until further notice”. They invoked a “threat of intervention which is becoming clearer from neighboring countries”, specifying that “any attempt to violate airspace” will lead to “an energetic and instantaneous response”.
The National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP, the ruling military body), also claimed that a “pre-deployment for the preparation of the intervention has been made in two Central African countries”, without specifying which ones. “Any state involved will be considered co-belligerent,” he adds. The CNSP once again attacked France without naming it, warning ECOWAS, which it considers “in the pay” of a “foreign power, against any interference in the internal affairs of Niger, as well as than the disastrous consequences of this military adventure on the security of our sub-region”.
Algeria and Nigeria oppose military intervention
Other African voices have spoken in recent days against any military intervention. The senators of Nigeria, heavyweight of ECOWAS, called for strengthening “the political and diplomatic option”, and Algeria, another neighbor of Niger and a major player in the Sahel, estimated through the voice of its President Abdelmadjid Tebboune that an intervention would be a “direct threat” against his country.
On Monday morning, Niamey woke up peacefully the day after a show of force by some 30,000 military supporters who gathered in Niger’s largest stadium in the capital. Flags of Niger, but also of neighboring Burkina or Russia, were waved there, France and ECOWAS booed, members of the CNSP who came to the scene, cheered by the crowd.
ECOWAS suspends budget support to Burkina Faso
General Mohamed Toumba, number three in the CNSP, took the floor to denounce those “who lurk in the shadows” and who “are plotting subversion” against “Niger’s march forward”. “We are aware of their Machiavellian plan,” he said. The coup d’etat which overthrew President Bazoum, a privileged ally of France and the United States which respectively deploy 1,500 and 1,100 soldiers there in the fight against the armed jihadists who are undermining Niger and the region, was strongly condemned in most countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world.
France, a former colonial power in West Africa, increasingly vilified by supporters of the military who took power in Niamey, Bamako and Ouagadougou, hammered home this weekend its support for ECOWAS efforts to defeat the “putsch attempt” in Niger. On Sunday evening, it announced that it was suspending “until further notice all its development aid and budget support actions” in Burkina Faso.
Leaders of ECOWAS countries meet Thursday in Abuja
ECOWAS leaders will meet Thursday in Abuja for an “extraordinary summit” on Niger, the West African organization announced on Monday, the day after the expiration of its ultimatum to the putschists demanding the reinstatement of the ousted Nigerien president.
“The leaders of the West African organization will look into the political situation and recent developments in Niger”, according to the press release from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which had threatened to possible use of force if President Mohamed Bazoum is not reinstated by Sunday.