The leaders gave the junta seven days to free the hostage President Mohamed Bazoum.
The junta had already issued a warning that it would thwart any “plan of aggression against Niger” by regional or Western forces.
Meanwhile, hundreds of pro-coup demonstrators gathered in front of the French embassy in Niamey, the country’s capital.
On Sunday, leaders of the Ecowas group of West African countries met in Abuja, Nigeria, to discuss the most recent coup, which comes after military coups in the nearby countries of Burkina Faso and Mali.
Following the summit, Ecowas said that it had “zero tolerance” for coups.
If its demands were not met within a week, the regional group threatened to “take all measures necessary to restore constitutional order.”
Military chiefs would convene “immediately” to discuss an intervention strategy and “such measures may include the use of force,” according to the statement.This is the first time Ecowas has threatened to use military force to put an end to the coups that have recently occurred in the area.
The last time it authorized a military operation was in 2017, when Senegalese troops were sent to The Gambia to oust longtime leader Yahya Jammeh after he refused to concede loss in elections.
According to the Chadian government, President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno has traveled to Niamey to demand the junta resign.
He has visited Gen Salifou Mody, the deputy commander of the junta, and is the first foreign leader to visit Niger since the coup.
It is unknown if he would meet with Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, commander of the presidential guards unit and self-proclaimed new ruler of Niger.
The leaders of West Africa also declared that all commercial flights would immediately be prohibited from flying over Niger, that all land crossings with it would be closed, and that the junta would be subject to financial sanctions.
Gen Tchiani cautioned Ecowas and unspecified Western governments against interfering before their conference.
The message, which was read out on TV, continued, “We once again reiterate to Ecowas or any other adventurer our firm determination to defend our fatherland.”
Concerns about Niger, a former French territory, turning toward Russia following the coup have been raised.
The deposed government had collaborated closely with Western and regional countries to combat extremist Islamists.
Following their own coups, Burkina Faso and Mali grew closer to Russia.
According to the AFP news agency, some of the demonstrators in Niamey outside the French embassy screamed “Long live Russia,” “Long live Putin,” and “Down with France.”
They also set fire to the embassy complex’s walls.
The office of President Emmanuel Macron issued a statement saying that France would not accept any attack on its interests in Niger and will respond “immediately and intractable.”
Western countries have denounced the coup in Niger, but Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary outfit, has reportedly hailed it as a victory.He was cited as saying on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel that “What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers,” albeit his statements have not been independently verified.
Wagner has been sent to Mali by the junta to aid in the war against radical Islamists.
In light of the junta’s increasing antagonism, France made its troop withdrawal announcement last year.
Later, it relocated the regional military command to Niger.
Following a decade of battling Islamist extremists, Mali’s junta announced in June that the 12,000 UN forces there also had to depart.
The UN concurred, announcing that the pullout would be finished by year’s end.
France announced on Saturday that it had stopped providing Niger with any budgetary or development assistance. Similar decisions have been taken by the US and the European Union.
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