West African leaders threaten military action in Niger

West African leaders have threatened Niger’s junta with military action after it seized power in a coup last week.

The leaders gave the junta seven days to release imprisoned President Mohamed Bazoum.

The junta has previously warned that it would oppose any “plan of aggression against Niger” by regional or Western forces.

Meanwhile, hundreds of coup supporters demonstrated outside the French embassy in Niamey, the capital.

Leaders of the West African bloc Ecowas met in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Sunday to examine the latest coup, which followed army takeovers in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso.

Ecowas had “zero tolerance” for coups, according to a statement read out after the conference.

If its demands are not met within a week, the regional bloc will “take all necessary measures to restore constitutional order.”

“Such measures may include the use of force,” according to the statement, and military chiefs will meet “immediately” to arrange an intervention.

The conference was attended by the Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel, who stated that Ecowas had taken decisive action since circumstances in Niger were troubling.

“Niger is an important player in the fight against terrorism.” If Niger stops playing this role, terrorists would have greater freedom and leeway to spread in the region,” Dr Leonardo Santos Simao told BBC Newshour.

He also stated that “no official negotiations” were being held between Ecowas and the country’s military junta.

This is the first time Ecowas has threatened military action to put an end to the recent coups in the area.

It last authorised military action in The Gambia in 2017, when Senegalese troops were deployed to compel long-serving ruler Yahya Jammeh to resign after he refused to accept loss in elections.

Chad’s President, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, has gone to Niamey to tell the junta to step down, according to the Chadian authorities.

He is Niger’s first foreign leader to visit since the coup, and he has met with junta deputy head Gen Salifou Mody.

It’s unknown whether he’ll meet with Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, the chief of Niger’s presidential guards who has declared himself the country’s new ruler.

The West African leaders also declared the introduction of financial sanctions against the junta, as well as the immediate implementation of a no-fly zone above Niger for all commercial planes.

Gen Tchiani advised Ecowas and unspecified Western governments not to intervene ahead of their conference.

“We once again reiterate to Ecowas or any other adventurer our firm determination to defend our fatherland,” the statement stated on TV.

The coup has raised fears that Niger, a former French territory, may turn towards Russia.

To combat radical Islamists, the ousted president collaborated closely with both regional and Western nations.

Following their own coups, Burkina Faso and Mali moved closer to Russia.

According to AFP, protesters outside the French embassy in Niamey screamed “Long live Russia,” “Long live Putin,” and “Down with France.”

They also set fire to the embassy compound’s walls.

France will not accept any attack on its interests in Niger and would respond in a “immediate and intractable manner,” according to President Emmanuel Macron’s office.

Western nations have condemned Niger’s coup, but the chief of Russia’s Wagner mercenary company, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has reportedly described it as a triumph.

“What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers,” he was quoted as saying on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel, though his remarks have not been independently verified.

In Mali, the junta has enlisted Wagner’s assistance in combating terrorist Islamists.

Last year, France announced the evacuation of its troops in response to the junta’s escalating animosity.

It afterwards relocated its regional military headquarters to Niger.

Following a decade of combating Islamist extremists, Mali’s junta announced in June that the UN’s 12,000 forces would also be leaving.

The United Nations agreed, stating that the pullout would be finished by the end of the year.

France announced on Saturday that it had discontinued all development funding and budgetary support to Niger. The European Union and the United States have made similar decisions.