Junta shuts Niger airspace over military intervention threat

In light of the possibility of military intervention from its neighbors, the leaders of the coup in Niger have temporarily closed the nation’s airspace. According to the flight tracking service Flightradar24, there aren’t any aircraft flying over Niger right now.
“Ecowas, a consortium of West African nations, had previously threatened to use force if President Mohamed Bazoum was not restored by Sunday at 23:00 GMT. Niger’s armed forces,” according to a junta spokesman, “are prepared to defend the nation.”
The presidential guard commander, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, later proclaimed himself the new leader after Mr. Bazoum was detained on July 26.
International organizations and governments have denounced the military takeover, including the United Nations, the United States, former colonial power France, and the rest of the European Union.
The Niger junta’s spokesperson read a statement on national television on Sunday, claiming to have knowledge that “a foreign power” was getting ready to strike Niger.
Following a crisis conference in Nigeria, the military leaders of Ecowas announced on Friday that they had created a thorough strategy for the potential use of force.
Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Ecowas commissioner for political affairs, peace, and security, stated that “all the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out here, including the resources needed, the how, and the when we are going to deploy the force.”
He continued, “We want diplomacy to succeed, and we want this message to them [Niger’s junta] clearly transmitted that we are giving them every opportunity to undo what they have done.”
Nigeria, Senegal, Togo, Ghana, and 14 other West African nations make up the regional commercial bloc known as Ecowas.
Thousands of the coup leaders’ supporters gathered angrily on Sunday at a stadium in Niamey, the capital of Niger, as they appear unwilling to give up control.
Burkina Faso and Mali, two of Niger’s neighbors, previously issued a warning that they would regard any foreign military intervention in Niger as “a declaration of war” against them. Mali and Burkina Faso are both Ecowas members, however they have been expelled from the group when the military took control of their governments.
Under Mr. Bazoum, Niger was an important Western ally in the conflict with Islamist extremists in West Africa’s Sahel area. Niger is a significant producer of uranium, a fuel essential for nuclear power.
BBC