Niger Republic Coup {Update}

<h4>Niger Republic Coup<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>OpenLife Nigeria reports that the Economic Community of West African States threatened to intervene militarily if Niger’s coup leaders didn’t restore the country’s democratically elected leader&comma; President Mohamed Bazoum&comma; by Sunday night&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>That deadline has now passed without any sign of a military response&comma; but junta leaders have closed Niger&&num;8217&semi;s airspace&comma; claiming that two Central African nations are preparing for military intervention&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; thousands of supporters of the junta&comma; which now calls itself the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland&comma; filled a 30&comma;000-seat stadium in the capital Niamey&period; They cheered and carried Russian flags and portraits of junta militants&comma; including self-appointed leader General Abdourahmane Tchiani&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;21860" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-21860" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-21860" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;08&sol;Mohamed-Bazoum-300x169&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Niger Republic Coup " width&equals;"300" height&equals;"169" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-21860" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Ousted President Mohamed Bazoum<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Neighboring Burkina Faso&comma; Guinea&comma; and Mali – notably suspended from ECOWAS owing to recent coups in their countries – side with the new regime&comma; and Burkina Faso and Mali have threatened to respond if Niger is attacked by the bloc&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>ECOWAS members&comma; led by Nigeria&comma; support the return of Bazoum but appear unwilling to use military might&period; On Saturday&comma; the Nigerian Senate rejected a request by President Bola Tinubu to send troops to Niger and called instead for a political solution&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;"> Some are also concerned that military intervention would pull the Wagner Group – already entrenched in Mali and Burkina Faso – into the fray&period; Non-ECOWAS nations Chad and Algeria also oppose military intervention&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>For his part&comma; Bazoum has not given up&period; In an op-ed for the Washington Post&comma; he asked for help from the international community&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>France has pledged its support for ECOWAS military intervention&comma; and the US has agreed to keep up diplomatic pressure&comma; but we’ll be watching to see how far ECOWAS is willing to go to deliver on its threat&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;21828" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-21828" style&equals;"width&colon; 162px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignnone"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-21828" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2023&sol;08&sol;Tinubu&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Niger Republic Coup " width&equals;"162" height&equals;"95" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-21828" class&equals;"wp-caption-text"><em><strong>Tinubu&comma; leader of ECOWAS<&sol;strong><&sol;em><&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;