ECOWAS bloc had given the troops that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 a week to return him to power
\nNIAMEY
\nPressure on the leaders of a coup in Niger mounted Sunday with the approach of the west African bloc\u2019s deadline for the military to relinquish control or face possible armed intervention.
\nThe ECOWAS bloc, chaired by regional military powerhouse and Niger\u2019s neighbor Nigeria, had given the troops that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 a week to return him to power.
\nECOWAS military chiefs of staff have agreed on a plan for a possible intervention to respond to the crisis, the latest of several coups to hit Africa\u2019s Sahel region since 2020.
\n\u201cWe 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,\u201d ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah said on Friday.
\nBut he warned that \u201call the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out,\u201d including how and when force would be deployed.
\nNiger\u2019s military leaders have said they will meet force with force.
\nIn the dusty alleyways of Niamey\u2019s Boukoki neighborhood, the prospect of an armed intervention by ECOWAS is met with defiance.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re going to fight for this revolution. We\u2019re not going to retreat faced with the enemy, we\u2019re determined,\u201d said Boukoki resident Adama Oumarou.
\n\u201cWe were waiting for this coup for a long time. When it arrived, we breathed a sigh of relief,\u201d she said.
\nAlgeria, itself an economic and military power on the continent which shares a long land border with Niger, has warned against a military solution.
\n\u201cWe categorically refuse any military intervention,\u201d Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a television interview Saturday evening, adding that such action would be \u201ca direct threat to Algeria.\u201d
\nHe stressed \u201cthere will be no solution without us (Algeria). We are the first people affected.\u201d
\n\u201cAlgeria shares nearly a thousand kilometers\u201d of border with Niger, he said.
\n\u201cWhat is the situation today in countries that have experienced military intervention?\u201d he said, pointing to Libya and Syria.
\nFormer colonial power France, with which Niger\u2019s new rulers broke military ties after taking power, said it would \u201cfirmly\u201d back whatever course of action ECOWAS took after the deadline expired.
\nNiger has played a key part in Western strategies to combat militant 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.
\nYet 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.
\nNiger, 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.
\nBazoum, 63, has been held by the coup leaders with his family in his official Niamey residence since July 26.
\nIn a column in The Washington Post on Thursday \u2014 his first lengthy statement since his detention \u2014 Bazoum said a successful putsch would \u201chave devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world.\u201d
\nBazoum won an election in 2021 that ushered in Niger\u2019s first-ever transfer of power from one civilian government to another.
\nNigeria has cut electricity supplies to its neighbor Niger, raising fears for the humanitarian situation, while Niamey has closed the vast Sahel country\u2019s borders, complicating food deliveries.
\nSenior Nigerian politicians have urged President Bola Tinubu to reconsider the threatened military intervention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ECOWAS bloc had given the troops that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 a week to return him to power NIAMEY Pressure on the leaders of a coup in Niger mounted Sunday with the approach of the west African bloc\u2019s deadline for the military to relinquish control or face possible armed intervention. The ECOWAS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347592,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-347566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n