Nations threaten military action against Niger junta
They want coup undone, leader restored to power
NAIROBI — West African leaders on Sunday threatened military action against Niger, where soldiers seized power in a coup Wednesday, unless the country’s democratically elected president is restored to office within a week.
The demand was issued by the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, a 15-member regional bloc, after a crisis summit meeting in Nigeria. It echoed earlier calls by the United States and France, major security allies of Niger, threatening to cut aid and military ties unless the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, is restored.
After coup supporters massed Sunday outside the French Embassy in the capital, Niamey, calling for the withdrawal of French troops, President Emmanuel Macron of France issued a stiffly worded warning. Any attack on France’s citizens or interests in Niger will be met with an “immediate and uncompromising” reaction, Macron said in a statement.
Hundreds of protesters also demonstrated in support of Bazoum in several cities across the country.
ECOWAS, in a statement, vowed to take “all measures necessary” to restore democratic rule in Niger and said that “may include the use of force.” It imposed financial sanctions on the putschists, led by the new self-declared leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani.
The new junta, however, insisted it was going nowhere. In a statement before the summit, it warned forcefully against any foreign military intervention.
“We want to once more remind ECOWAS or any other adventurer of our firm determination to defend our homeland,” a junta spokesperson said Saturday night in a televised statement.
The summit and the dueling statements fueled the growing sense of crisis in Niger, a vast and impoverished country. The coup caught many by surprise, including Western countries now seeking to engineer a reverse.
That is a tall order: Experts say coups are very hard to undo once a few days have passed. But the demands are a measure of the alarmed response to the turmoil in a country seen by the West as a crucial ally in a region where Islamist militants are expanding their grip.
France has about 1,500 troops in Niger, which it ruled as a colony until 1960, and there are about 1,100 US troops, many stationed at drone bases used to carry out airstrikes against militants in Niger and neighboring countries.
On Saturday, France and the European Union suspended some aid to Niger, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said American security ties, worth about $500 million since 2012, were also in jeopardy.
As ever in the region these days, Russia loomed in the background.
Coup supporters waved Russian flags in Niamey on Sunday and hung one on the wall of the French Embassy, an echo of similar scenes in Burkina Faso and Mali, where Russian flags also emerged among people celebrating coups in 2021 and 2022.
Experts say there is no evidence that Russia is behind the coup in Niger, where personal factors are considered a more probable trigger. Tensions had been building steadily between Bazoum and Tchiani, the head of the presidential guard.
Bazoum’s whereabouts remained uncertain Sunday, although he was widely presumed to still be in detention at the presidential palace.