While the ultimatum sent by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the putschists in Niger to return power expired Sunday evening at midnight, the Malian army announced on Monday August 7 the sending by Mali and Burkina Faso of a joint official delegation to Niamey, in “solidarity” with Niger. ECOWAS had threatened to use force after the deadline had expired. Mali and Burkina Faso, where the military also forcibly seized power in 2020 and 2022 respectively, warned they would consider such an intervention a “declaration of war”.
An immediate military intervention to restore President Mohamed Bazoum, deposed by the putschists on July 26, is not envisaged at this stage, according to a source close to ECOWAS. A summit of leaders of member countries will be held in “the next few days” to decide, she added.
“Energetic response”
On Sunday evening, shortly before the end of the ECOWAS ultimatum, the Nigerien military announced that it was closing the country’s airspace “until further notice”. They invoked a “threat of intervention which is becoming clearer from neighboring countries”, assuring that “any attempt to violate the airspace” will lead to “a vigorous and instantaneous response”. The National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP, the ruling military body) also claimed that “pre-deployment for the preparation of the intervention has been made in two Central African countries”, without specifying which ones. and adding: “Any State involved shall be deemed to be co-belligerent.” »
Several voices outside Niger have spoken out in recent days against any military intervention. Senators from ECOWAS heavyweight Nigeria called for strengthening “the political and diplomatic option”, and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said intervention would be a “direct threat” against his country, another neighbor of Niger. and major player in the Sahel.
In Europe, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday he “hoped” that the ECOWAS ultimatum would be “extended”. “It is not said that we will not find a solution that is not war,” he said in an interview with the daily La Stampa. “Europe cannot afford an armed confrontation, we must not be seen as new colonizers,” he explains. We must create a new alliance with African countries that is not based on exploitation. »
In Germany, “we believe that the mediation efforts are only in their infancy because the sanctions are only beginning to take effect,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said during a briefing. a regular press briefing in Berlin. There is, according to him, “no automatism” between the end of the ECOWAS ultimatum and an armed intervention in Niger.
For its part, France, a former colonial power in West Africa, increasingly reviled by supporters of the military who took power in Niamey, Bamako and Ouagadougou, hammered home its support for the efforts of the ECOWAS to thwart the “attempted putsch” in Niger.
“The Forward March”
Niamey woke up peacefully on Monday the day after a show of force by some 30,000 military supporters who gathered in Niger’s biggest stadium. Flags of the country, but also of Burkina or Russia, were waved there, France and ECOWAS booed, members of the CNSP cheered by the crowd. General Mohamed Toumba, number three of the CNSP, took the floor to denounce those “who are lurking in the shadows” and “in the process of plotting subversion” against “Niger’s march forward”.
President Mohamed Bazoum has been held prisoner since July 26. On Sunday, the Minister of Mines, Ousseini Hadizatou, was released “for medical reasons”, a member of her entourage said on Monday. But according to a source close to the ousted president’s party, “all the other personalities, ministers and politicians arrested are still being held”.
The coup d’etat which overthrew President Bazoum, a privileged ally of France and the United States, which respectively deployed 1,500 and 1,100 soldiers there in the fight against the armed jihadists who are undermining the region, was strongly condemned in the most countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world.