Demonstrators chant slogans towards former colonial energy France and West African regional bloc ECOWAS after it vowed to revive ousted chief Mohamed Bazoum.
A number of thousand individuals have demonstrated within the capital of Niger in help of final month’s navy coup, whose chief warned towards exterior intervention and proposed a three-year transition of energy.
The demonstrators on Sunday chanted slogans hostile to former colonial energy France and the West African regional bloc Financial Group of West African States (ECOWAS), which is contemplating a possible navy operation to reinstate elected President Mohamed Bazoum if ongoing negotiations with coup leaders fail.
The Sahel state’s new navy leaders have formally banned demonstrations, however in observe these in help of the coup are allowed to go forward.
The demonstrators waved placards saying “Cease the navy intervention” and “No to sanctions” in reference to monetary and commerce restrictions imposed by ECOWAS 4 days after the putsch on July 26.
The newest in a string of pro-coup rallies got here a day after the brand new navy ruler in Niamey warned an assault on Niger wouldn’t be a “stroll within the park”.
Basic Abdourahmane Tchiani additionally mentioned in a televised handle on Saturday that he didn’t want to “confiscate” energy and a transition of energy again to civilian rule wouldn’t transcend three years.
Ibrahim Yahaya Ibrahim, an analyst with the Worldwide Disaster Group, mentioned with the announcement of the three-year transition interval by Tchiani that the “ball was in ECOWAS’s court docket”.
“The transition has outlined the phrases of the negotiations. If ECOWAS insists that the leaders must return the federal government to the civilians and restore President Bazoum then we’ll seemingly see a navy intervention,” he instructed Al Jazeera.
Niger’s new leaders have accused France, an in depth Bazoum ally, of being behind the anti-coup stance taken by ECOWAS, which on Saturday made a brand new push for a diplomatic resolution.
After ECOWAS chiefs of employees met within the Ghanaian capital Accra on Friday, the 15-nation bloc mentioned it agreed on a date for potential navy motion.
Diplomatic push
Regardless of its menace of intervention, ECOWAS despatched a diplomatic delegation to Niamey on Saturday led by former Nigerian chief Abdulsalami Abubakar.
Niger tv confirmed delegation members shaking palms with Bazoum, who stays in detention.
It additionally broadcast footage of Abubakar talking to Tchiani, however the content material of the change has not been made public.
In his televised handle on Saturday, Tchiani alleged that ECOWAS was “on the brink of assault Niger by establishing an occupying military in collaboration with a overseas military”, with out saying which nation he meant.
“If an assault had been to be undertaken towards us, it won’t be the stroll within the park some individuals appear to suppose.”
Tchiani additionally introduced a 30-day interval of “nationwide dialogue” to attract up “concrete proposals” to put the foundations of “a brand new constitutional life”.
ECOWAS leaders say they must act now that Niger has change into the fourth West African nation since 2020 to endure a coup, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.
The bloc agreed to activate a “standby power” as a final resort to revive democracy in Niger.
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