The ECOWAS bloc is trying to negotiate with the leaders of the July 26 Niger coup, but has said if diplomatic efforts fail it is ready to use force as a last resort to restore constitutional order and reverse the putsch.

The junta in a statement read on national television said Benin had “authorised the deployment of soldiers, mercenaries, and war materials” in the context of the possible ECOWAS intervention.

As a result the new Nigerien authorities “decide to renounce the military cooperation agreement (with Benin),” it said.

There was no immediate response from Benin.

ECOWAS has not shared any details about possible deployments and Niger last week said talks with the bloc continued.

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who holds ECOWAS’ revolving chairmanship, has suggested that a nine-month transition back to civilian rule could satisfy regional powers. Niger’s junta has previously proposed a three-year timeline.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met with Niger Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou and the Niger ambassador in Paris on Saturday.

Earlier, Colonna said the junta in Niamey had until Sunday to hand back power, otherwise a threat by member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to stage a military intervention had to be taken “very seriously”.

“The threat is credible,” she said on French public radio.

France did not specify whether its backing would entail military support for an ECOWAS intervention in Niger.

The military junta in Niger is locked in a standoff with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has taken its hardest stance yet on last week’s ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum – the seventh coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.

In a blow to hopes of restoring the previous status quo, the junta revoked a raft of military cooperation agreements with France late on Thursday. There was no immediate response from France.

The move echoes similar moves by juntas in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso in the wake of their coups and could drastically reshape a joint fight against an Islamist insurgency.

France has between 1,000 and 1,500 troops in Niger, helping to fight an insurgency by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State that has destabilised West Africa’s Sahel region.

An ECOWAS delegation is in the Nigerien capital Niamey, hoping to secure “a conclusive and amicable resolution” to the crisis, although the bloc has also imposed sweeping sanctions and warned it could authorise the use of force if Bazoum is not reinstated by Sunday.

Niger’s self-declared leader Abdourahamane Tiani has rejected the sanctions and said the junta will not back down against any threats.

Later on Friday, the region’s defence chiefs will officially end a multi-day meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja about a possible military response that they have said would be a last resort.

The junta on Thursday said any aggression or attempted aggression by ECOWAS would be met with an immediate riposte on any ECOWAS member-state except those friendly to Niger.

Tiani has won the backing of the juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso and cited persistent insecurity as his main justification for seizing power, even though data on attacks shows that security there has actually been improving.

Heads of state of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union could suspend Niger from its institutions, cut off the country from the regional central bank and financial market, and close borders.

Niger’s eastern neighbour Chad, a non-member of both regional organisations, has been invited to the ECOWAS summit, a statement from the Chadian president’s office said on Saturday.

Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, receiving close to $2 billion a year in official development assistance, according to the World Bank. It is also a security partner of former colonial power France and the United States, which both use it as a base to fight an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa’s wider Sahel region.

The West African leaders could also for the first time, consider a military intervention to restore President Mohamed Bazoum who was ousted when General Abdourahamane Tiani was declared the new head of state on Friday.

Ahead of the Sunday summit, the military leaders in Niger on Saturday night, warned in a statement read on Niger national television on Saturday night against any military intervention.

“The objective of the (ECOWAS) meeting is to approve a plan of aggression against Niger through an imminent military intervention in Niamey in collaboration with other African countries that are non-members of ECOWAS, and certain western countries,” junta spokesman Colonel Amadou Abdramane said.

“We want to once more remind ECOWAS or any other adventurer, of our firm determination to defend our homeland,” he said.

The junta issued a second statement on Saturday night inviting citizens in the capital take to the streets from 7 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) to protest against ECOWAS and show support for the new military leaders.

The military coup in Niger has been widely condemned by its neighbours and international partners who have refused to recognise the new leaders and have demanded that Bazoum be restored to power.

Bazoum has not been heard from since early Thursday when he was confined within the presidential palace, although the European Union, France and others say they still recognize him as the legitimate president.

The European Union and France have cut off financial support to Niger and the United States has threatened to do the same.

After an emergency meeting on Friday, the African Union issued a statement demanding that the military return to their barracks and restore constitutional order within 15 days. It did not say what would happen after that.

African countries, Western powers and regional and international organizations have voiced support for Bazoum and called for democracy to be restored. Some officials suggested the outcome was not yet final.

France’s Foreign Minister Catherina Colonna explicitly referred to it as an “attempted coup” on Friday, while White House national security spokesman John Kirby said there was still room for intra-African diplomacy.

The upheaval has raised concerns about the security of a region where Niger has been a key ally of Western powers seeking to contain insurgencies by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.

“A military takeover may cause the United States to cease security and other cooperation with the government of Niger,” Kirby told a briefing.

Tiani was the head of the presidential guard whose soldiers shut Bazoum inside his palace on Wednesday, causing confusion over who was in control.

Bazoum has not made a statement since Thursday morning, when he vowed to protect “hard-won” democratic gains in a post on social media.

Several world leaders said they have spoken to him since the coup, and that he is still detained in the palace with his family but “fine”.

Former colonial power France said it still recognised Bazoum as the legitimate leader.

The general appeared on state television on Friday with a banner on the screen that described him as the president of a newly formed military body, the National Council for Safeguarding the Homeland (CNSP).

“The President of the CNSP is the head of state,” an officer said, reading out a statement.

The constitution has been suspended, all government institutions dissolved and the CNSP will exercise all legislative and executive power until constitutional order returns, the statement added. It gave no timelines.

Tiani met with the heads of all ministries at the presidential palace on Friday afternoon. A CNSP member told journalists after the meeting the ministries will continue to provide services.

Traditional Ties At Stake

Before the uprising, Niger was seen as the West’s most stable ally in an unstable region.

It borders three countries – Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad – hit by coups in the last two years. Some were spurred by frustration over growing insecurity.

France, Germany, Italy and the United States have troops in Niger on military training and counter-insurgency missions.

Niger is also the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium, the radioactive metal widely used for nuclear energy and in nuclear weapons, as well as for treating cancer.

Like the military rulers of Mali and Burkina Faso, Tiani justified the coup by saying that the government had been failing to contain the Islamist insurgency.

In the capital Nimaey, reactions to the coup have been mixed.

“We need to be very vigilant to ensure that this fight against terrorism does not give them a position or an opportunity to stay in power forever,” said resident Ousmane Kansey.

Another passerby, Ibrahim Hamidou, saw the takeover as a positive move against bad governance and insecurity he blamed partly on the presence of foreign boots.

“The results are not good… this means that their presence is of little use,” he told Reuters.

Jihadist militants have been spreading across West Africa’s Sahel region for years. Niger so far has held them off better than Mali and Burkina Faso, where violence has only worsened since the military takeovers.

The juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso have increasingly turned toward Russia as a strategic ally and distanced themselves from traditional partners such as France, which has faced a growing wave of resentment towards its influence in the Sahel.

There were some Russian flags among coup supporters who took to the streets in the capital Niamey on Thursday.

One of the few international voices to welcome the takeover was Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who remains active despite leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass last month. He described the coup as an uprising against colonizers and offered his fighters’ services to bring order.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said constitutional order should be restored.

Foreign Response

Foreign countries have not announced any plan to intervene in Niger but Tiani warned against any attempts to extract Bazoum, saying foreign military intervention would result in “the massacre of the Niger population and chaos”.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will hold an emergency summit in Nigeria on Sunday to discuss the situation.

Niger will test for the regional bloc, which has struggled to convince soldiers to give back power after the latest wave of coups in member states Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso.

ECOWAS has wrangled with the juntas on transition timelines it deemed too lengthy and imposed sanctions on Mali and Guinea over their reluctance to cooperate.

The European Union has threatened to cut budgetary support to Niger, while the United States said its cooperation with Niger’s government was contingent on “democratic standards”.

The United Nations said it would still deliver aid in Niger even though it had not had any contact with the military since the coup.