Tension in Niger after the threats of the coup leaders and the announcement of a new ECOWAS meeting

Tension remains in Niger after the coup military junta accused the Economic Community of West African States (Cedeao) of planning a war against the country, while the regional bloc convened a new meeting after the expiration of the ultimatum that gave to the coup leaders with the threat of military action.

This Monday, ECOWAS convened an extraordinary meeting on the 10th in Abuja (Nigeria) of the bloc's heads of state after the expiration last midnight of the ultimatum given to the Nigerian junta to restore constitutional order.

“The ECOWAS leaders will assess and discuss the political situation and recent developments in Niger,” the bloc said in a statement issued on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian junta yesterday reinforced the security and military device in the country and closed its airspace.

Closure of Niger airspace

Coinciding with the expiration last night of the ECOWAS ultimatum, the Nigerien junta – calling itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland (CNSP) – reacted to this warning with a new closure of the country's airspace.

The CNSP – which broadcast three statements last night on public television – warned that any violation of the measure to close the air border will have an “energetic” and “instantaneous” response..

The junta also accused ECOWAS of having completed “war planning” against their country and claimed that two central African countries, which it did not name, began a preventive deployment of their troops.

The junta indicated that it “is closely following the preparations for this proxy war” and also accused “a foreign power” -which it did not cite- of preparing “an aggression” against Niger in coordination with ECOWAS.

Sources close to the junta explained to EFE that the statement referred to France, the former colonial power of Niger that has important economic interests in the African country and maintains 1,500 French soldiers deployed in the framework of the agreements signed in the past with Niamey on the matter. of combating terrorism.

The coup leaders – who announced the dismissal of Niger's ambassadors to France, the United States, Nigeria and Togo – last week accused Paris of “wanting to intervene militarily” in the African country to free the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, who is He has been held in the Presidential Palace since July 26, the day the military coup was perpetrated.

After the coup leaders' announcements last night, the French airline Air France suspended flights to Niamey “until further notice” and canceled flights to Bamako (Mali) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) until the next 11th.

Popular support for the coup plotters

A source from the Presidency of the Nigerian junta told EFE that the coup leaders have no intention of resigning given the great popular support for their action.

In fact, traditional chiefs, religious leaders, union and NGO representatives as well as university student groups expressed their support for the junta.

In addition, in recent days different pro-coup demonstrations have taken place in Niamey and in other locations in the country; the last one was organized yesterday, Sunday, in the Seyni Kountche stadium in the Nigerien capital where supporters of the junta filled the 30,000 seats of the establishment while they greeted with triumphant cheers some members of the junta who were present in the place.

The protesters, who shouted slogans against France and ECOWAS, warned that they are ready to fight and sacrifice themselves in the face of any foreign military attack against their country..

Faced with the distance from France, the coup junta consolidates its rapprochement with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali, close to Russia and governed by military juntas, which expressed their opposition to the use of force and threatened that any intervention in Niger would amount to a declaration of war against them too.

This Monday, a mixed delegation from Mali and Burkina Faso arrived in Niamey to express the solidarity of the two neighboring countries with the Nigerien junta.

In reaction to his rapprochement with the coup leaders in Niger, France suspended all of its economic aid to Burkina Faso.