Abuja/Niamey, July 31, (dpa/GNA) – The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has threatened the military leaders who have seized power in Niger with severe sanctions and the use of force, if constitutional order is not restored.
At an emergency meeting on Sunday, the ECOWAS states called for the immediate release and reinstatement of Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, who was arrested during a coup on Wednesday.
If order is not restored within a week, ECOWAS member states say they will take measures that could include the use of force and the legal prosecution of the military junta, the group of states announced at the end of the Sunday summit in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Trade and financial transactions between ECOWAS member states and Niger would also be suspended, it said, and air and national borders closed.
The ECOWAS statement called on the central banks of its member states to freeze the assets of Nigerien state-owned and parastatal companies, as well as those of the military involved in the coup.
In addition, all financial assistance and transactions with Nigerien financial institutions would be suspended. ECOWAS would immediately appoint a special envoy to deliver the demands to the military junta in Niger.
The move comes a day after France and the European Union, suspended all financial support to Niger.
On Sunday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, backed the West African group’s stance, saying that African Union and ECOWAS principles contained “zero tolerance for unconstitutional change.”
“We join ECOWAS and regional leaders in calling for the immediate release of President Mohamed Bazoum and his family, and the restoration of all state functions to the legitimate, democratically-elected government,” he said.
“The United States further welcomes the dispatch of the special representative of the ECOWAS Chair to Niger and urges all parties to work with ECOWAS for a peaceful and expeditious resolution of the current situation,” Blinken added.
On Wednesday, officers of General Omar Tchiani’s elite unit arrested Niger’s democratically elected president. Tchiani then appointed himself the country’s new ruler on Friday.
Shortly after Tchiani took power as de facto president, the coup plotters suspended the West African country’s constitution, and dissolved all constitutional institutions.
Earlier on Sunday, thousands gathered in Niger’s capital Niamey to show support for the new military rulers.
The demonstration was intended to send a warning to France, the former colonial power, and ECOWAS not to intervene in the country, a dpa reporter on the scene said.
The demonstrators waved Russian flags to show support for Russian forces in the country. After military coups in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, the new rulers there had turned towards Russia, too.
In Paris, the Élysée Palace said that President Emmanuel Macron would not tolerate any attack on France or French interests in Niger, which gained full independence from France in 1960.
Paris would respond instantly to any attacks on its citizens, diplomats or institutions in the country, Macron said in response to reports of violence.
The French Foreign Ministry issued a call to the forces controlling Niger to live up to their responsibilities, and to ensure the safety of French diplomatic representatives in the country.
The French news agency AFP tweeted, that demonstrators had torn down the plaque of the French embassy in Niamey, trampled it underfoot and replaced it with Russian and Nigerien flags.
GNA