West Africa
Niger: Ultimatum expires – no solution in sight
Supporters of Niger’s ruling junta demonstrated in the capital Niamey last Thursday – and also displayed Russian flags. photo
© Sam Mednick/AP/dpa
The conflict between the military junta in Niger and the West African community of states Ecowas threatens to escalate militarily. France still wants to keep its soldiers in the country.
Despite an ultimatum from the West African community of states that expires at the weekend Ecowas, the junta in Niger does not seem to want to bow to the demands. After the military chiefs of the Ecowas countries reportedly worked out a possible plan for an intervention in Niger on Friday, Niger’s junta announced on Saturday night that it had filled important positions in the armed forces with its own followers.
As the spokesman for the military rulers announced on national television on Friday evening, putsch general Moussa Salao Barmou is now the new chief of staff for the armed forces. Barmou was previously the head of special forces and the mastermind behind the coup in the West African country a week ago. In addition to Barmou, other important positions in the army and air force were also occupied by supporters of the putschists, the statement said. A diplomatic mediation mission from Ecowas had to leave Niger on Thursday – without a meeting with ruler Abdourahamane Tiani.
Ecowas: Military intervention cannot be ruled out
On July 26, officers of the Presidential Guard in Niger declared the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum ousted. The commander of the elite unit, General Abdourahamane Tiani, subsequently proclaimed himself the new ruler. Shortly after Tiani came to power, the putschists suspended the constitution and dissolved all constitutional institutions. As a result, Ecowas called on the junta in Niger last Sunday, after an emergency meeting, to reinstate President Bazoum and restore constitutional order within a week. The group would otherwise take measures that could include violence, it said.
Ecowas has already set up military intervention troops several times in the past. The group last intervened in The Gambia in 2017 when President Yahya Jammeh refused to relinquish power. However, military Ecowas operations have so far always been carried out at the invitation of the government concerned. A military operation in Niger would be the first operation decided by the international community against the will of a government – or in this case the new military rulers.
French soldiers remain in the country
Despite the possible escalation of the situation in Niger, a possible withdrawal of French soldiers is not on the agenda, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told the radio station France Info. Rather, she warned those in power in Niger to take the Ecowas threat seriously. The new junta terminated military cooperation with the former colonial power on Thursday. However, France still has around 1,500 soldiers stationed in Niger.
After the German government announced on Friday that all German civilians wanting to leave the country had left the country, according to the Spanish Defense Ministry, an evacuation flight by the Spanish Air Force with 74 civilians from 19 countries landed at the military airfield in Torrejón de Ardoz near Madrid on Friday evening.