This move is coming on the heels of failed diplomacy and threat of military deployment and the response of Niger’s military junta by severing diplomatic ties with Nigeria and Togo, after the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), failed to resolve the ongoing impasse.
Declaring on state television late Thursday, the Junta also ended all diplomatic and military cooperation with France and the United States, while recalling all accredited Niger’s ambassadors.
It also fired some of the previous government’s key ambassadors and warned citizens to watch out for foreign armies and spies.
ECOWAS had given a seven-day ultimatum to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum to avoid potential clashes with the junta.
Chairman of the regional body and President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu had dispatched a high-powered delegation, led by General Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), to meet with the coup leaders, but they only met with junta representatives.
His request for military deployment was rejected by the Nigerian Senate.
In a seemingly declaration of deadlock in negotiation, the putschists announced the termination of the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors of the Republic of Niger to France, Nigeria, Togo, and the United States.
The junta’s declaration has deepened a post-coup isolation for what had been the United States’ and allies’ last major security partner in the Sahel, the vast region south of the Sahara Desert that various Islamic extremist groups have turned into the global centre of terrorism.
Amid concerns about escalating conflict, several European countries have evacuated their nationals from Niger.
