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The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced that its leaders will hold a summit in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Thursday to discuss the Niger coup.
Niger is awaiting ECOWAS’ response to the coup leaders’ disregard of the deadline given to them to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum to office, while Italy has called for an extension of the deadline, amid fears of military intervention that could fuel tension in the African Sahel region.
ECOWAS said it would issue a statement on its next steps, in response to the junta’s refusal to bow to external pressure to step down by yesterday, after seizing power on July 26.
The ruling military council in Niger decided to close the country’s airspace and ban all types of flights.
And local media outlets in Niger reported that the military council announced the closure of airspace, banning all types of flights, and threatening to respond to every attempt to penetrate its airspace.
Yesterday, the coup leaders mobilized thousands of their supporters in a sports stadium in Niger’s capital, Niamey, stressing “the non-return of the decisions taken to fulfill the people’s demands,” according to local newspapers.
At a meeting held in Nigeria last week, the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) called for the immediate release of the detained President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, and set a period of one week to return to the constitutional order in the country, threatening to “use force” if necessary.
ECOWAS includes 15 countries in its membership, with a total population of about 350 million people, and a total area of 5 million square kilometers, or 17% of the total area of u200bu200bthe continent of Africa.
In another context, the German government warned the coup leaders in Niger against committing acts of violence against the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said, “Berlin is concerned about the President of Niger, and for this reason I would like, in this regard, to emphasize once again our message to the putschists that they should bear in mind that they will suffer serious personal consequences if something happens to the elected President Bazoum and his family.” .
“We will consider this an escalation, just like our African partners,” the spokesman added, in response to a question about possible steps to be taken in this case. “It is possible to impose sanctions and carry out criminal prosecutions at the national or international level.”
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