The military junta of Niger has said they would kill deposed President Mohamed Bazoum if neighbouring countries attempt any military intervention to restore his rule.
Daily Mail quoted two Western officials as disclosing this to a top U.S. diplomat.
Earlier on Thursday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ordered the chief of defence staff committee to immediately activate its standby force.
President of ECOWAS, Omar Alieu Touray, gave the order while reading the resolution taken at the Extraordinary meeting on the Niger coup in Abuja on Thursday.
The leaders converged on Abuja to discuss its next line of action after the seven-day ultimatum for the reinstatement of President Bazoum elapsed without compliance from the junta.
At its meeting, the regional bloc said all efforts to dialogue with the Niger junta have been rejected by coup leaders.
The ECOWAS leaders also condemned the continuous detention of President Mohamed Bazoum and his family members.
According to Daily Mail, a Western military official said representatives of the junta told the U.S. Under Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, of the threat to Bazoum during her visit to the country this week.
The Associated Press reported that a U.S. official confirmed that account, also speaking on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Bazoum was ousted on July 26, with Mohamed Bazoum’s presidential guard taking him hostage. Tensions in the region have flared dramatically in the days since the coup, the seventh seen in West and Central Africa since 2020.
On Tuesday, the military junta appointed Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, Niger’s foremost economist and official of the African Development Bank as the prime minister to head the government.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that the US has already spent an eyewatering $500 million to train and build up Niger’s army.
The failed talks come as Niger closed its airspace off indefinitely in response to a threat of military intervention by a bloc of neighbouring countries if Niger did not restore Bazoum to power.
