Niger closes its airspace as it warns of a foreign attack

Niger’s junta partially closed the country’s airspace, warning of an attack by a “foreign power” as a deadline passed on Sunday to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.

The deadline, imposed by West African neighbours, threatened intervention, though there was no sign of any military action as yet. Coup leaders said, however, action against them was unfolding.

“The planning for this war was carried out,” junta spokesman Amadou Abdramane said on state broadcaster Tele Sahel. “A pre-deployment of forces to participate in this war has begun in two countries in central Africa.” He provided no further details.

Niger on Sunday said it had closed its airspace for international flights except for a few countries including Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya and Chad that have spoken out against a military intervention.

“Any state from which military action is directed against Niger will be considered pro-belligerent,“ Col Abdramane said.

West Africa’s defence chiefs agreed to a plan for a potential military intervention in Abuja on Friday after a three-day meeting of regional defence officials.

It was unclear on Sunday at what time Ecowas, as the 15-member bloc is known, would consider the deadline to reinstate Mr Bazoum to have passed. Any intervention was complicated over the weekend by the senate in neighbouring Nigeria, which urged diplomacy over military action, at least for now.

The junta that took power in a July 26th coup has rejected all calls to restore democracy and warned against any foreign interference. Hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital, Niamey on Sunday, in support of the coup leaders.

Gen Abdourahamane Tiani declared himself Niger’s new leader on July 28th, two days after the presidential guard he leads detained Mr Bazoum. Ecowas on July 30th closed the borders with Niger and later set August 6th as a deadline to restore democracy.

Niger is a key international ally in the fight against jihadists who have killed thousands and displaced millions across the region over the past decade. The coup creates a belt of military-run countries that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, many of them less friendly with the West than they are with Russia, which has made inroads in the region in recent years partly through the Wagner Group.

The US government is pausing certain foreign assistance programmes benefiting the government of Niger, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said last week.

- Bloomberg