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08-08-2023
NIAMEY: Niger closed its airspace due to the “threat of intervention” as the junta defied West African bloc ECOWAS’s deadline to reinstate the democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum, and now faces possible military action.
ECOWAS, a week ago, issued an ultimatum, demanding the generals relinquish power by midnight Sunday (2300 GMT).
On July 26, Bazoum was overthrown by members of his own guard who detained him at the presidency.
“Faced with the threat of intervention, which is becoming clearer through the preparation of neighboring countries, Niger’s airspace is closed from this day on Sunday… for all aircraft until further notice,” the junta said in a statement released shortly before the deadline passed.
Any attempt to violate the country’s airspace would meet with an “energetic and immediate response”, the statement added.
In a separate statement, the now-ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), the generals who have taken power, said there had been a “pre-deployment in preparation for intervention” made by two Central African countries, without naming them.
“Any state involved will be considered co-belligerent,” it warned.
Thousands of coup supporters gathered earlier on Sunday at a stadium in the capital Niamey to cheer on the CNSP.
At the 30,000-seat Seyni Kountche stadium, named after Niger’s first coup d’etat leader in 1974, CNSP leaders, including General Mohamed Toumba, greeted a jubilant crowd.
The venue was draped in Russian flags and supporters carried portraits of CNSP leaders.
Military plan
ECOWAS military chiefs of staff agreed Friday on a plan for a possible intervention to respond to the crisis, the latest of several coups to hit Africa’s Sahel region since 2020.
“We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them (the military) that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done,” ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah said but he warned that “all the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out”, including how and when force would be deployed. (Int’l News Desk)
