The crisis is bogged down in Niger. Almost two weeks after the July 26 coup, the putschists – led by General Tiani – are still in power, despite the expiration of the ECOWAS ultimatum threatening to intervene militarily. Niamey closed its airspace on Sunday, while Burkina Faso and Mali had qualified a possible military intervention as a “declaration of war” in a joint press release on July 31.
Le Figaro takes stock of the situation on a map.
This Monday, the United States – which has two military bases in Niger – claimed to have had “difficult” discussions with the authors of the coup, the American Secretary of State Antony Blinken advancing to support “the efforts of ECOWAS to restore constitutional order.
For its part, France evacuated 1079 people, including 577 French. Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna assured this Saturday that the departure of the French soldiers present on the spot was “not on the agenda”.
