The Niger problem was discussed by the African Union (AU) on Monday as the post-coup leaders of the nation sounded defiant while also suggesting diplomacy as a possible resolution.
However, discussions at the AU’s headquarters in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa took place at the same time as a flare-up over threats to prosecute the deposed president of Niger by the regime.
“AU’s Peace & Security Council meets to receive an update on the evolution of the situation in Niger and the efforts to address it,” the pan-African body said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
ECOWAS and Niger representatives, as well as the head of the AU Commision Moussa Faki Mahamat, were present, it claimed.
Mohamed Bazoum, whose election in 2021 marked a turning point in the difficult history of the nation, was overthrown on July 26 by members of his presidential guard.
His removal sent shockwaves through West Africa, where Burkina Faso and Mali, both struggling under Islamic insurgency, also experienced military takeovers.
Seeking to stop the cascade of coups, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) slapped sanctions on Niger and last week approved deployment of a “standby force to restore constitutional order”.
At the General Seyni Kountche Stadium in Niamey, artists perform during a concert in favour of Niger’s National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP).
However, there are concerns surrounding any intervention, from operational viability to internal strife within ECOWAS, and the bloc also asserts that it wants a peaceful resolution.
It gave a seven-day deadline to get Bazoum back online or risk using force, but the period passed without any response.
As the third week of the crisis draws to a close, the regime has been sending out contradictory messages.
After their leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani, met with Nigerian religious mediators over the weekend, the coup leaders declared they were amenable to diplomatic pressure.
The ECOWAS military commanders’ scheduled conference in Ghana was postponed due to “technical reasons” before those discussions.
However, on Sunday night, the leaders of Niger said they had gathered enough proof to bring charges against Bazoum for “high treason and undermining internal and external security”.
ECOWAS vehemently decried the legal threat.
ECOWAS condemns Niger coup leaders’ charges against former president
In a statement, the bloc said it had learned of the threats “with stupefaction”.
“It represents yet another form of provocation and contradicts the (regime’s) reported willingness… to restore constitutional order through peaceful means.”
The idea to try the president in custody outraged Washington, which used the phrase “incredibly dismayed.”
The foreign minister of Bazoum said on Monday that “pogroms” had broken out in the nation’s capital Niamey, but he did not say who they were directed towards.
In an interview with RFI and France 24, Hassoumi Massaoudou, the former civilian government’s ex-foreign minister, said:
Currently in Niamey… there are pogroms with hordes of young people excited by racial and ethnic hatred.
“That is why there is an urgent need to stop this and put Niger back on a path of peace, stability and economic progress.”
Since the coup, Bazoum, 63, and his family have been detained at the president’s official mansion, raising concerns about his living conditions.
On Monday, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, the civilian prime minister chosen by the military, vowed to stop the threat of penalties from ECOWAS.
“We think that even though it is an unfair challenge that has been imposed on us, we should be able to overcome it. And we will overcome it,” he told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
The bloc has severed financial transactions and electricity supplies and closed borders with landlocked Niger, blocking much-needed imports to one of the world’s poorest countries.
The military chiefs described the punishment as “illegal, inhumane, and humiliating” on Sunday and claimed that the penalties make it difficult for civilians to acquire food, medicine, and energy.
Zeine, however, emphasised the significance of Niger’s relations with both the West African bloc and its rival Nigeria.
“We have a great interest in preserving this important and historical relationship and also in having ECOWAS work on purely economic issues first,” he said.
Niger, a landlocked country in the parched Sahel, is among the poorest and most unstable nations in the world.
It routinely comes in last on the UN’s measure of prosperity, the Human Development Index.
Since achieving independence from France in 1960, the country had not gone through a peaceful transfer of power until Bazoum’s election in 2021.
Before being overthrown in the fifth coup in the nation’s history, he had withstood two previous coup attempts.
In Niamey, Niger, close to a French airbase, supporters of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) assemble for a protest. “Down with France, down with ECOWAS,” protesters chanted.
His removal throws a severe damage to French and US Sahelian policy.
Following a conflict with their juntas, France withdrew from Mali and Burkina Faso in 2022 and redirected its anti-jihadist operations to Niger.
It has approximately 1,500 troops in Niger, most of whom are stationed at an air base close to Niamey, compared to the Pentagon’s approximate 1,000 military personnel.