African leaders give Niger junta a week to cede power or face possible use of force
- Days after the coup, it remains unclear if Niger’s new junta leaders will move towards Moscow or stick with Niger’s Western partners
- Former colonial ruler France and the EU have suspended financial aid to Niger following the coup, with the US warning that its aid could also be at stake
African leaders on Sunday gave the junta in Niger one week to cede power or face the possible use of force, and slapped financial sanctions on the putschists, after the latest coup in the jihadist-plagued Sahel region raised alarm on the continent and in the West.
In the third coup in as many years to fell a leader in the Sahel, Niger’s elected president and Western ally, Mohamed Bazoum, has been held by the military since Wednesday.
General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of the powerful presidential guard, has declared himself leader.
Bazoum is one of a dwindling group of elected presidents and pro-Western leaders in the Sahel, where since 2020 a jihadist insurgency has triggered coups in Mali and Burkina Faso.
At an emergency summit in Nigeria, the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) regional bloc demanded Bazoum be reinstated, within a week.
