2023-08-07 16:21:12
An immediate military intervention to restore President Mohamed Bazoum in Niger is not envisaged at this stage, according to a source close to ECOWAS. Its leaders will meet Thursday in Abuja for an “extraordinary summit”, the West African organization announced on Monday, August 7, 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.
The military who took power closed the country’s airspace “in the face of the threat of armed intervention”. “Faced with the threat of intervention which is becoming clearer from neighboring countries, Niger’s airspace is closed […] until further notice,” said a statement from the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland (CNSP, which took power) on Sunday evening.
A delegation arrives in Niamey
The Malian army announced Monday the dispatch to Niamey by Mali and Burkina Faso of a joint official delegation in “solidarity” with Niger.
“Burkina Faso and Mali are sending a delegation to Niamey, led by the Malian minister” Abdoulaye Maïga, one of the strong men of the Malian junta, indicated the Malian army on social networks. “Objective: to show the solidarity of the two countries to the brotherly people of Niger,” she added.
The end of the ultimatum
The ultimatum, sent on July 30 by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the military to restore President Bazoum to his duties under penalty of armed intervention, expired last night. The CNSP specified that “any attempt to violate the airspace” will lead to “an energetic and instantaneous response”.
He also affirmed that a “pre-deployment for the preparation of the intervention was made in two countries of central Africa”, without specifying which ones. “Any state involved will be considered co-belligerent,” he added.
Niger’s land and air borders with five countries (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, Chad), closed during the July 26 coup, were reopened on August 2.
A gathering of 30,000 supporters
On Sunday afternoon, some 30,000 coup supporters, many waving flags of Niger, Burkina Faso and Russia, staged a show of force at Niger’s biggest stadium in Niamey. “Today is the day of our true independence!” shouted a young man, the crowd around him shouting “Down with France, down with ECOWAS!”
Members of the CNSP arrived triumphantly at the stadium in a convoy of pick-ups, cheered and surrounded by a feverish crowd, AFP journalists noted.
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.
Support from Mali and Burkina Faso for the junta
The coup was condemned by all of Niger’s Western and African partners, but the Niger military received support from their counterparts in Mali and Burkina Faso – who also came to power through coups in 2020 and 2022 and they too face jihadist violence – who say an intervention in Niger would be a “declaration of war” on their two countries.
Concerns in Nigeria and Algeria
The prospect of armed intervention arouses concern and criticism. On Saturday, senators from Nigeria, a heavyweight in ECOWAS with its 215 million inhabitants and which shares a 1,500 km border with Niger, called on President Bola Tinubu to “strengthen the political and diplomatic option”. Algeria, another neighbor of Niger and a major player in the Sahel, has also expressed reservations. President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said on Saturday that an intervention would be “a direct threat” to his country. “There will be no solution without us”, he added, fearing that “the whole Sahel will be set ablaze”.
“We must prevent the catastrophic scenario of a war,” warned a group of researchers, specialists in the Sahel, in a column published on Saturday in the French daily Liberation.
“One more war in the Sahel will have only one winner: the jihadist movements which for years have been building their territorial expansion on the bankruptcy of states”, they write.
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