Niger’s military rulers close airspace as ECOWAS deadline nears

Niger’s coup leaders announced Sunday that they had closed the country’s airspace, as the deadline from the West African bloc ECOWAS for them to hand back power or face a possible military intervention approached.

“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 country’s new rulers said in a statement.

Any attempt to violate the country’s airspace would meet with an “energetic and immediate response,” the statement added.

ECOWAS issued its ultimatum a week ago, demanding that power be handed back to the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum by Sunday night at midnight (2300 GMT).

Bazoum was overthrown on July 26 when members of his own guard detained him at the presidency.

Thousands of coup supporters gathered earlier on Sunday at a stadium in the capital Niamey to cheer on the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), the generals who have taken power.

At 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, while showing no sign of willingness to cede power.

The venue was draped in Russian flags and carrying portraits of CNSP leaders.

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.

Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara also called on the coup leaders to stand down late Sunday on the eve of his own country’s Independence Day.

“We condemn the attempted coup in Niger, which poses a serious threat to peace and security in the sub-region,” Ouattara said, adding it was “essential” to “constitutional order” that democratically elected Bazoum be allowed to govern.

In the dusty alleyways of Niamey’s Boukoki neighborhood, residents were defiant at the prospect of an armed intervention by ECOWAS.

“We’re going to fight for this revolution. We’re not going to retreat faced with the enemy, we’re determined,” said Boukoki resident Adama Oumarou, adding that “we were waiting for this coup for a long time.”

Algeria, itself an economic and military power on the continent which shares a long land border with Niger, has warned against a military solution.

“We categorically refuse any military intervention,” Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a television interview Saturday, saying it would be “a direct threat to Algeria” as it shares “nearly a thousand kilometers” of border with Niger.

Former colonial power France, with which Niger’s new rulers broke military ties after taking power, said it would “firmly” back whatever course of action ECOWAS took after the deadline expired.

On Sunday, it said it was cutting off development aid and budgetary assistance to Burkina Faso, who with Mali has said that they would consider any attack on the country as a “declaration of war.”

Both countries Burkina Faso and Mali are now ruled by military regimes that overthrew democratically elected rulers.

Niger has played a key part in Western strategies to combat jihadist insurgencies that have plagued the Sahel since 2012, with France and the United States stationing around 1,500 and 1,000 troops in the country, respectively.

France has already evacuated hundreds of its citizens from Niger since the coup, and on Sunday, Italy’s defense ministry said it had flown 65 military personnel from Niger, along with 10 US military personnel.

Anti-French sentiment in the region is on the rise, while Russian activity, often through the Wagner mercenary group, has grown. Moscow has warned against armed intervention from outside Niger.

Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, relies heavily on foreign aid that could be pulled if Bazoum is not reinstated as head of state, Paris has warned.

Bazoum, 63, has been held by the coup leaders with his family in his official Niamey residence since July 26.

He won an election in 2021 that ushered in Niger’s first-ever transfer of power from one civilian government to another.

Nigeria has already cut electricity supplies to its neighbor Niger, raising fears for the humanitarian situation, while Niamey has closed the vast Sahel country’s borders, complicating food deliveries.

Senior Nigerian politicians have urged President Bola Tinubu to reconsider the threatened military intervention.