On Sunday, the day before the deadline set by the West African regional group ECOWAS to reinstate the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, thousands of supporters of the military coup in Niger gathered at a stadium in Niamey.
The 30,000-seat stadium was filled with cheers as a delegation of the current ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) arrived. Many supporters were carrying Russian flags and photographs of CNSP leaders.
Journalists observed that the stadium, named for Seyni Kountche, the leader of Niger’s first coup d’état in 1974, was nearly full and that the mood was joyous.
One of the CNSP’s commanders, General Mohamed Toumba, lambasted in a speech those who were “lurking in the shadows” and “plotting subversion” against “the forward march.”
He declared, “We are aware of their Machiavellian scheme.
The protest takes place at the same time as the deadline for the coup leaders to restore Bazoum, which was set by ECOWAS on July 30.
However, the generals who took control of Niamey on July 26 have so far shown no indication that they would be inclined to cede.
The armies of several nations, notably Senegal and the Ivory Coast, declared their readiness to take part. On Friday, the military chiefs of the ECOWAS agreed to a plan for a potential military intervention to address the problem.
The Senate of neighboring Nigeria opposed the ECOWAS plan on Saturday and urged Nigeria’s president, who serves as the organization’s current chair, to consider other options before using force.
Although the warning on the eve of Sunday’s deadline created doubts about the intervention’s future, ECOWAS can still move forward because final decisions are made by consensus among member states.
The military in Niger gained assistance from its counterparts in Mali and Burkina Faso, two countries that experienced military coups in the previous three years, despite the widespread condemnation of the coup from Western and African nations.
As the ECOWAS ultimatum expires, the military junta in Niger shuts down the nation’s airspace.
As the deadline set by the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) to restore the deposed President Mohamed Bazoum to power expired, the military junta in Niger said Sunday that it had decided to shut down the nation’s airspace.
According to Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, spokesman for the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), which is now in power, Niger’s airspace was shut down owing to “the threat of intervention from a neighboring country.”
The West African regional bloc has finished preparing for an invasion of Niger, according to the CNSP, and at least two of its members have started mobilizing their armed forces toward the Niger border.
The ECOWAS defense ministers set a Sunday deadline for the release and restoration of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, who was chosen in February 2021, but Niger’s military rulers have so far refused to hand over control as they had demanded.
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