NIAMEY — Thousands of coup supporters in Niger gathered Sunday for a rally to cheer on the generals claiming energy, as a deadline set by the west African bloc for the army to relinquish management or face attainable armed intervention was set to lapse.
The ECOWAS bloc, chaired by regional army powerhouse and Niger’s neighbor Nigeria, had given the troops that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 per week to return him to energy.
But Sunday afternoon within the capital Niamey, hundreds of backers of the now-ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) gathered at a stadium draped in Russian flags and carrying portraits of CNSP leaders.
At 30,000-seat Seyni Kountche stadium, named after Niger’s first coup d’etat chief in 1974, CNSP leaders together with General Mohamed Toumba greeted a jubilant crowd, whereas exhibiting no signal of willingness to cede energy.
ECOWAS army chiefs of employees agreed Friday on a plan for a attainable intervention to reply to the disaster, the newest of a number of coups to hit Africa’s Sahel area 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 stated.
But he warned that “all the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out,” together with how and when power can be deployed.
Niger’s army leaders have stated they may meet power with power.
‘We’re decided’
In the dusty alleyways of Niamey’s Boukoki neighborhood, residents had been defiant on 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,” stated Boukoki resident Adama Oumarou, including that “we were waiting for this coup for a long time.”
Algeria, itself an financial and army energy on the continent which shares an extended land border with Niger, has warned in opposition to a army resolution.
“We categorically refuse any military intervention,” Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune stated in a tv interview Saturday, saying it might be “a direct threat to Algeria” because it shares “nearly a thousand kilometers” of border with Niger.
Former colonial energy France, with which Niger’s new rulers broke army ties after taking energy, stated it might “firmly” again no matter plan of action ECOWAS took after the deadline expired.
Niger has performed a key half in Western methods to fight jihadist insurgencies which have plagued the Sahel since 2012, with France and the United States stationing round 1,500 and 1,000 troops within the nation, respectively.
France has already evacuated a whole lot of its residents from Niger because the coup, and on Sunday, Italy’s protection ministry stated it had 65 army personnel from Niger, together with 10 US army personnel.
Anti-French sentiment
Anti-French sentiment within the area is on the rise, whereas Russian exercise, usually by means of the Wagner mercenary group, has grown. Moscow has warned in opposition to armed intervention from exterior Niger.
Niger, one of many poorest international locations on the planet, depends closely on international assist that could possibly be pulled if Bazoum just isn’t reinstated as head of state, Paris has warned.
Bazoum, 63, has been held by the coup leaders together with his household in his official Niamey residence since July 26.
He received an election in 2021 that ushered in Niger’s first-ever switch of energy from one civilian authorities to a different.
Nigeria has already minimize electrical energy provides to its neighbor Niger, elevating fears for the humanitarian scenario, whereas Niamey has closed the huge Sahel nation’s borders, complicating meals deliveries.
Senior Nigerian politicians have urged President Bola Tinubu to rethink the threatened army intervention. — Agence France-Presse
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
