Deadline arrives for Niger’s junta amid calls for peace

The deadline for Niger’s military junta to reinstate the country’s ousted president or face military intervention from a West Africa regional bloc arrived on Sunday amid prominent appeals to pursue more peaceful means.

In the capital, coup leaders appeared at a stadium rally where a chicken decorated in the colours of former coloniser France was beheaded, to cheers.

The regional bloc known as ECOWAS had threatened military force if President Mohamed Bazoum was not reinstated by Sunday but the bloc was on Saturday urged to explore options other than the use of force.

ECOWAS can still move ahead but the warning on the eve of the deadline raised questions about the intervention’s fate.

The July 26 coup, in which mutinous soldiers installed General Abdourahmane Tchiani as head of state, adds another layer of complexity to West Africa’s Sahel region that’s struggling with military takeovers, spreading Islamic extremism and a shift by some states toward Russia and its proxy, the Wagner mercenary group.

President Bazoum said he is held “hostage” by the mutinous soldiers. An ECOWAS delegation was unable to meet with Tchiani and now the junta has reached out to Wagner for assistance while severing security ties with former coloniser France.

Algeria and Chad, non-ECOWAS neighbours with strong militaries in the region, have said they oppose the use of force or won’t intervene militarily, and neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso – both run by juntas – have said an intervention would be a “declaration of war” against them, too.

It was not immediately clear on Sunday what ECOWAS will do next. Thousands of people at Sunday’s rally in Niger’s capital, Niamey, cheered the coup leaders’ appearance and expressed defiance against both the ECOWAS threat and France’s long presence in the region. Some waved Russian flags.

The coup is a major blow to the United States and allies who saw Niger as the last major counterterrorism partner in the Sahel, a vast area south of the Sahara Desert where jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have been expanding their range and beginning to threaten coastal states like Benin, Ghana and Togo.

Some in Niger quietly expressed concerns about the coup. One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment, said many people want Bazoum resinstated but were afraid to say so for fear of retaliation.

“At present, the population is living in total psychosis,” the official said.

The uncertainty in Niger is worsening daily life for some 25 million people in one of the world’s poorest countries. Food prices are rising after ECOWAS imposed economic and travel sanctions following the coup. Nigeria, which supplies up to 90 per cent of the electricity in Niger, has cut off some of the supply.