Sawt Falasteen - Nigerian president calls for 'amicable resolution' of Niger crisis

The regional bloc ECOWAS on Sunday gave the junta a week to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum following a July 26 coup or risk a possible military intervention.

West African military chiefs are meeting in Nigeria's capital Abuja to discuss the possibility of military intervention if diplomacy fails, with ECOWAS already imposing trade and financial sanctions.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu told two delegations representing the bloc to do "whatever it takes to ensure a conclusive and amicable resolution of the situation in Niger", according to his office.

One delegation arrived in the capital Niamey on Thursday, according to an airport source. The other was due to hold talks with leaders of Algeria and Libya.

Meanwhile French media companies France 24 and RFI said their broadcasts had been blocked, denouncing the "decision made outside any legal or conventional framework".

Broadcasts by the two companies had been inaccessible in Niger since Thursday afternoon, according to AFP journalists.

Their signals were cut "on the instructions of the new military authorities," a senior official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The French foreign ministry "firmly condemned" the move.

Across Niger on Thursday, thousands of people rallied across Niger to back the coup leaders, with some brandishing giant Russian flags and chanting anti-French slogans.

A crowd in Niamey shouted "Down with France", "Long live Russia, long live (Vladimir) Putin" during a protest to mark the anniversary of the nation's 1960 independence from France.

AFP journalists saw that police blocked access to the French embassy, after Paris had urged the junta to "fully guarantee" the safety of embassies in Niamey ahead of the demonstrations.

Niger has had a key role in Western strategies to combat a jihadist insurgency that has plagued Africa's Sahel region since 2012, with France and the US stationing around 1,500 and 1,000 troops in the country, respectively.

Protester Issiaka Hamadou said it was "only security that interests us", irrespective of whether it came from "Russia, China, Turkey, if they want to help us".

"We just don't want the French, who have been looting us since 1960 -- they've been there ever since and nothing has changed," he said.

Several thousand people also took to the streets of other cities including Agadez in the north and Filingue, where junta head General Abdourahamane Tiani is from.

- 'One coup too many' -

Senegal said Thursday it would send soldiers to join ECOWAS if it decided to intervene militarily in Niger.

"It is one coup too many," said Foreign Minister Aissata Tall Sall.

Niger is the fourth member of the bloc to undergo a putsch since 2020.

Bazoum has been held by the coup plotters with his family since July 26, prompting US President Joe Biden to call for his immediate release, urging the "preservation of Niger's hard-earned democracy".

Britain and the United States have announced the pulling back of embassy personnel in Niger as a precaution.

Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders have imposed trade and financial sanctions, with Nigeria cutting off the electricity supplies that account for some 70 percent of Niger's grid.

Nigeria, West Africa's pre-eminent military and economic power, is the current ECOWAS chair and has vowed a firm line against coups that have proliferated across the region since 2020.

Junta-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso, however, have warned any military intervention in their neighbour would be tantamount to a "declaration of war" against them.

Anti-French sentiment in the region has continued to rise. At the same time Russian activity in the region, often via the Wagner mercenary group, has grown.

- 'Refuse to give in' -

Bazoum, 63, was feted in 2021 after winning elections that ushered in Niger's first-ever peaceful transition of power.

He took the helm of a country burdened by four previous coups since independence.

But after surviving two attempted putsches, Bazoum was overthrown on July 26 when members of his own guard detained him at the presidency.

Tiani has declared himself leader, but his claim has been condemned internationally.

In a televised address Wednesday, Tiani rejected the international sanctions imposed and said he "refused to give in to any threat".

France refocused its anti-jihadist mission in Niger after pulling out of Mali and Burkina Faso last year.

The impact has contributed to army takeovers in all three Sahel countries and devastated economies of some of the world's poorest countries.

T.Ibrahim--SF-PST