Niger junta shuts down airspace as ‘threat of military intervention looms after defying ECOWAS deadline
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ECOWAS issued a one-week ultimatum to Niger Junta to restore constitutional order by reinstating President Mohamed Bazoum
ECOWAS issued a one-week ultimatum to Niger Junta to restore constitutional order by reinstating President Mohamed Bazoum.
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.
The ultimatum was issued by ECOWAS a week ago, asking the generals to relinquish power by midnight Sunday (2300 GMT).
“Faced with the threat of intervention, which is becoming clearer through the preparation of neighbouring countries, Niger’s airspace is closed from this day on Sunday… for all aircraft until further notice,” said the junta, in a statement which was released shortly before the deadline was crossed.
“Any attempt to violate the country’s airspace would meet with an energetic and immediate response”, the statement further read.
The now-ruling National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), in a separate statement, said that there was “pre-deployment in preparation for intervention” which was made by two Central African nations, without naming them. “Any state involved will be considered co-belligerent,” it stated.
Any attempt to violate the country’s airspace would meet with an “energetic and immediate response”, the statement added.
Early Monday, there were no aircraft operating in Niger’s skies, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24.
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.
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“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.
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