Niger’s junta shuts airspace and accuses neighbouring nations of plan to invade as deadline passes

SAM MEDNICK

Niger’s mutinous soldiers closed the country’s airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack, as the junta defied a deadline to restore the ousted president and said any attempt to fly over the country will be met with “an energetic and immediate response.”

Niger’s state television announced the move Sunday night, hours before a deadline set by West African regional bloc ECOWAS, which demanded the coup leaders reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum or face military force.

A spokesman for the coup leaders, Col. Maj. Amadou Abdramane, warned of “the threat of intervention being prepared in a neighbouring country,” and said Niger’s airspace will be closed until further notice. The junta asserted that two central African countries are preparing for an invasion, but did not say which ones, and called on the country’s population to defend it.

Regional tensions have mounted since mutinous soldiers overthrew Niger’s democratically elected president