NIGER CLOSES AIRSPACE AS ECOWAS’S DEADLINE EXPIRES
Niger’s coup leaders have closed the country’s airspace following their rejection of a demand from West African states to either restore deposed President Mohamed Bazoum or risk military intervention.
The decision was made late on Sunday as hundreds of supporters of the generals who took over, also known as the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), assembled at a stadium in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for the CNSP, justified the shutdown of the airspace by citing ECOWAS’s threat of military action.
Abdramane said there had been a pre-deployment of forces in two Central African countries in preparation for involvement in a statement read out on national television, but he did not provide details.
