Niger closes airspace over 'threat of intervention' as junta defies deadline

NIAMEY, Niger

Niger closed its airspace due to the "threat of intervention" as the junta defied a deadline from the West African bloc ECOWAS to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum or face possible military action.

Niger's National Council for the safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane (C), General Mohamed Toumba (C-L) and Colonel Ousmane Abarchi (R) are greeted by supporters upon their arrival at the Stade General Seyni Kountche in Niamey Niger on August 6, 2023. 

ECOWAS issued its ultimatum a week ago, demanding the generals relinquish power by midnight on Sunday, August 6 (11 pm GMT). Bazoum was overthrown on July 26 when members of his own guard detained him at the presidency.

"Faced with the threat of intervention, which is becoming clearer through the preparation of neighboring countries, Niger's airspace is closed from this day on Sunday (...) for all aircraft until further notice," the junta said in a statement released shortly before the deadline passed. Any attempt to violate the country's airspace would meet with an "energetic and immediate response," the statement added.

In a separate statement, the now-ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), the generals who have taken power, said there had been a "pre-deployment in preparation for intervention" made by two Central African countries, without naming them. "Any state involved will be considered co-belligerent," it warned.

Thousands of coup supporters gathered earlier on Sunday at a stadium in the capital Niamey to cheer on the CNSP. At the 30,000-seat Seyni Kountche stadium, named after Niger's first coup d'etat leader in 1974, CNSP leaders including General Mohamed Toumba greeted a jubilant crowd. The venue was draped in Russian flags and supporters carried portraits of CNSP leaders.

ECOWAS military chiefs of staff agreed Friday on a plan for a possible intervention to respond to the crisis, the latest of several coups to hit Africa's Sahel region 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 said. But he warned that "all the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out," including how and when force would be deployed.

Former colonial power France, with which Niger's new rulers broke military ties after taking power, said it would "firmly" back whatever course of action ECOWAS took after the deadline expired. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara called on the coup leaders to stand down late Sunday on the eve of his own country's Independence Day.

"We condemn the attempted coup in Niger, which poses a serious threat to peace and security in the sub-region," Ouattara said, adding it was "essential" to "constitutional order" that Bazoum be allowed to govern.

Algeria, which shares a long land border with Niger, has warned against a military solution. "We categorically refuse any military intervention," Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a television interview Saturday, saying it would be "a direct threat to Algeria" as it shares an almost 1,000-km-long border with Niger.