2023-08-07 07:02:02
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The mutinous soldiers who controlled Niger have closed the country’s airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack, while the military junta has challenged a deadline to reinstate the ousted president, saying that any attempt to fly over the country would be greeted with “an energetic and immediate response.”
Nigerian state television announced the decision late Sunday, hours before the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded that coup leaders reinstate president Mohamed Bazoum or face military force.
A spokesman for the coup leaders, Major Colonel Amadou Abdramane, warned of “the threat of an intervention being prepared in a neighboring country” and said that Nigerian airspace would be closed until further notice. The junta claimed that two Central African countries had collaborated to prepare an invasion, although it did not say which, and called on the country’s population to defend it.
At first it was not clear what ECOWAS would do after the deadline.
Thousands of people attended a rally in the Niger capital Niamey with coup leaders on Sunday.
The United States, France and other partners saw Niger as their last major counterterrorism partner in the vast Sahel region south of the Sahara desert, where groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State group have expanded their influence.
It was not immediately clear what would happen to the roughly 1,500 French and 1,100 US troops in Niger, although junta leaders have broken security agreements with Paris.
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