Niger junta chief rejects sanctions, refuses to 'give in' to threats

West African regional bloc ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) on Wednesday said it sent a delegation to Niger to negotiate with the coup leaders who seized power last week, adding that a military intervention in the junta-led country was “the last option”. The diplomatic push comes as French and other European aircraft continue to evacuate hundreds of foreign nationals from Niger's capital, Niamey. Follow our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

Issued on: 02/08/2023 - 03:49Modified: 02/08/2023 - 14:08

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Niger's new military ruler lashed out at neighboring countries and the international community in a nationally televised speech Wednesday night, and he called on the population to be ready to defend the nation.

In one of few addresses to the West African country since seizing power from Niger’s democratically elected president a week ago, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani warned against foreign meddling and military intervention against the coup.

“We therefore call on the people of Niger as a whole and their unity to defeat all those who want to inflict unspeakable suffering on our hard-working populations and destabilize our country,” Tchiani said.

Tchiani, who commands Niger's presidential guard, also promised to create the conditions for a peaceful transition to elections following his ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Niger's ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in a phone call on Wednesday that the US remains committed to the restoration of the African country's democratically elected government, the State Department said.

The United States ordered the evacuation of some staff and families from its embassy in Niger after military officers seized power there, the State Department said on Wednesday, even as the mission will remain open and senior leadership will continue working from there.

"Given ongoing developments in Niger and out of an abundance of caution, the Department of State is ordering the temporary departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and eligible family members from the U.S. Embassy in Niamey," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

"The United States remains committed to our relationship with the people of Niger and to Nigerien democracy. We remain diplomatically engaged at the highest levels," Miller said.

The self-proclaimed new leader of Niger, Abdourahamane Tiani, has "refused to give in to any threat” and rejected the sanctions imposed by the West African regional bloc in response to last week's coup.

In a televised address, Tiani said Niger would not bow to regional and international pressure to reinstate President Mohammed Bazoum.

Commenting on French efforts to evacuate foreign nationals from the country, Tiani said French citizens had "no objective reason to leave Niger".

General Tiani said the sanctions were "cynical and iniquitous" and designed to "humiliate" the defence and security forces and Niger, and make the country "ungovernable".

French people in Niger had never been subjected "to the least threat", he added.

The first group of British nationals have left Niger on a French flight bound for Paris, Britain's foreign office has said.

"A group of British nationals has left Niger on a French flight this evening. We have a team in Paris ready to support them on landing," a foreign office spokesperson said in an emailed statement. They did not say how many Britons were on the flight.

“The UK’s Ambassador and a core team remain in Niger to support the very small number of British nationals who are still there. We are grateful to the French for their help in this evacuation,” the statement added.

The World Bank says it is "alarmed" by efforts to overthrow Niger's democratically elected government and has suspended payments to the country until further notice, except for private-sector partnerships.

"In response, the World Bank has paused disbursements for all operations until further notice other than private sector partnerships which will continue with caution," the financial institution said in a statement.

The United States is set to evacuate some staff and families from its embassy in Niger, even as the mission will remain open and senior leadership will continue working from there, a US official has told Reuters news agency.

Niger is a key Western ally in a fight against Islamist insurgents. Foreign powers have condemned the takeover, fearing it could allow the militants to gain ground.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a final decision was still pending but it appeared likely.

"This is a prudent move in case the security situation deteriorates, and the core embassy staff will remain," the official said.

A military intervention in junta-ruled Niger is "the last option on the table", the West Africa's regional bloc ECOWAS has said as military chiefs met in neighbouring Nigeria to frame a response to the coup.

"(The) military option is the very last option on the table, the last resort, but we have to prepare for the eventuality," said Abdel-Fatau Musah, ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and security.

Nigeria, the current chair of ECOWAS and West Africa's military and economic superpower, has vowed to take a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020, most of them the outcome of a bloody jihadist insurgency.

The regional bloc on Sunday imposed trade and financial sanctions and gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate Niger's democratically elected president or face potential use of force.

Nigeria has cut its electricity supply to Niger after West African neighbours imposed sanctions on the junta that ousted the country's elected leader last week, a Niger power company source has told AFP.

"Since yesterday, Nigeria has disconnected the high-voltage line transporting electricity to Niger," a source at Niger's power company Nigelec said.

Niger depends on Nigeria for 70 percent of its power.

A Nigerian-led delegation from West African regional bloc ECOWAS is in Niger "to negotiate" with the coup leaders who seized power last week, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, has said.

Niger analysis

🇳🇪 Multiple meetings are taking place on Wednesday to try and diplomatically support #Niger following the coup that removed President Mohamed Bazoum. #ECOWAS seems to be "putting out all the stops" to find a solution, explains FRANCE 24's International Affairs Editor 👇 pic.twitter.com/NvQSlBOvRB

Musah said the delegation was led by Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former military ruler of Nigeria who oversaw a transition to civilian rule in the late 1990s.

He was speaking in the Nigerian capital Abuja at the opening of talks on the crisis gathering ECOWAS military chiefs.

Musah said a military intervention to restore Niger's democratically-elected leaders would be a "last resort".

General Salifou Mody, one of the officers who seized power in Niger last week, has travelled to neighbouring Mali, whose junta has supported the coup leaders in the face of international pressure.

Mody, a former army chief of staff who had been fired in April, arrived in the capital Bamako at the head of a delegation, a senior Nigerien official and a Malian security official told AFP.

West African regional bloc ECOWAS said on Sunday it would use force against the junta if it didn’t release and reinstate the president within a week. Mali and Burkina Faso’s leaders slammed the ECOWAS threat, saying that a military intervention in Niger “would be tantamount to a declaration of war” against them.

Any Western military intervention in Niger must be avoided, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told RAI public television on Wednesday.

"We have to work so that democracy prevails in Niger ... we need to rule out any Western military initiative because it would be perceived as a new colonisation," Tajani said.

His comments, reported by Italian news agencies, were confirmed by his spokesman.

FRANCE 24's Clovis Casali reports from Charles de Gaulle airport as evacuees arrive in France following the coup in Niger.

“Two planes arrived in the middle of the night, and two more are expected later on today”, said Casali. “For the French foreign ministry, what’s essential is to ensure the security of these passengers and those who wish to leave Niger”.

About 600 French nationals out of the roughly 1,200 registered in Niger have requested to be evacuated from the country, according to French authorities. At this stage, four flights are expected to take off on Wednesday to carry out this large-scale evacuation.

Evacuees who arrived in Paris on a French government plane early Wednesday morning have said they are relieved to have left Niger after days of unrest. Many of them have also expressed concern about what will happen in the future. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris Trent reports from Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport.

Niger's land and air borders with five neighbouring countries have been reopened, nearly a week after they were closed following a coup that overthrew elected President Mohamed Bazoum, one of the putschists announced Tuesday on national television.

"The land and air borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad are reopened" from "today", he declared, hours after a first French evacuation flight took off and five days before a deadline to restore constitutional order issued by a bloc of West African countries.

The first of three planes carrying mostly French and European people evacuated from Niger landed in Paris early Wednesday, a week after a coup toppled one of the last pro-Western leaders in the jihadist-plagued Sahel.

"There are 262 people on board the plane, an Airbus A330, including a dozen babies," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told AFP before the flight landed at Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. "Nearly all the passengers are compatriots" along with "some European nationals".

There were also Nigeriens, Portuguese, Belgians, Ethiopians and Lebanese on board, the foreign ministry told reporters at the airport. A second flight carrying French, Nigerien, German, Belgian, Canadian, American, Austrian and Indian nationals was due to land early Wednesday morning.

Military chiefs of members of the West African bloc ECOWAS will meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja from Wednesday to Friday to discuss the coup in Niger, the organisation said on Tuesday.

On Sunday ECOWAS slapped sanctions on Niger and warned it may use force as it gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum.

Niger's elected president Mohamed Bazoum has been held by the military since July 26, in the third coup in as many years to topple an elected leader in the Sahel.

The head of Niger’s powerful presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tiani, has declared himself the country’s new leader.

Tiani said the putsch was a response to "the degradation of the security situation" linked to jihadist bloodshed, as well as corruption and economic woes.

Former colonial ruler France and the European Union have suspended security cooperation and financial aid to Niger following the coup, while the United States warned that its aid could also be at stake.

At an emergency summit on Sunday the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gave Tiani one week to reinstate the country's democratically elected president and have threatened to use force if the demands aren't met.

France has denied accusations from Niger's coup leaders that Paris is plotting to intervene militarily, with Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna telling FRANCE 24 that "France's only priority is the safety of our nationals".

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)

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