Thousands of backers of the now-ruling National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP) gathered at the stadium draped in Russian flags and carrying portraits of CNSP leaders.
At 30,000-seat Seyni Kountche stadium, named after Niger’s first coup d’etat leader in 1974, CNSP leaders including General Mohamed Toumba greeted a jubilant crowd, while showing no sign of willingness to cede power.
On Niamey’s streets there were also sporadic displays of support for the junta, which has said it will not cave in to external pressure to stand down following the July 26 power grab. There were no signs of opposition.
The seventh coup in West and Central Africa in three years has rocked the Sahel region, one of the poorest in the world.
Given its uranium and oil riches and its pivotal role in a war with religions militants, Niger holds importance for the US, Europe, China and Russia.
Rippling cheers greeted every sentence of a speech read by a representative of the new army-led administration to the packed crowd at the stadium, who stressed the junta’s determination to stay in power.
“The obscurantist forces that oppose Niger’s progress are lurking in the shadows,” Mohamed Toumba said. “We will stand with you against them.”
Defence chiefs of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have agreed on military action, including when and where to strike, if the detained President, Mohamed Bazoum, is not released and reinstated by the deadline yesterday.
“We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them (the military) that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done,” ECOWAS commissioner Abdel-Fatau Musah had said on Friday.
However, he warned that “all the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out”, including how and when force would be deployed.
The ECOWAS did not respond to a request for comment on what its next steps would be, or when exactly its deadline expired.
A spokesman said it would issue a statement at the end of the day.
Algeria, itself an economic and military power on the continent which shares a long land border with Niger, has warned against a military solution.
“We categorically refuse any military intervention,” Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said in a television interview on Saturday, warning that it would be deemed “a direct threat to Algeria” as it shares “nearly a thousand kilometres” of border with Niger.
Blasting military tunes and tooting vuvuzela horns, more than 100 junta supporters earlier set up a picket near an air base in Niamey – part of a citizen movement to offer non-violent resistance in support of the junta if needed.
As organisers led chants of “Vive Niger”, much of the emotion appeared directed against the ECOWAS as well as former colonial power France, which said on Saturday that it would support regional efforts to overturn the coup, without specifying if that included military assistance.
“The Nigerien people have understood that these imperialists want to bring about our demise. And God willing, they will be the ones to suffer for it,” said pensioner Amadou Adamou.
Television broadcasts yesterday included a roundtable debate on encouraging solidarity in the face of ECOWAS sanctions, which have led to power cuts and soaring food prices.
The bloc’s military threat has triggered fears of further conflict in a region already battling the deadly religious insurgency that has killed thousands and forced millions to flee.
Any military intervention could be complicated by a promise from juntas in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso to come to Niger’s defence if needed.
Bazoum, 63, has been held by the coup leaders with his family in his official Niamey residence since July 26.
He won an election in 2021 that ushered in Niger’s first-ever transfer of power from one civilian government to another.
Bazoum’s Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou said on Saturday in Paris that the ousted regime still believed a last-minute agreement was possible.
Italy said yesterday that it had reduced its troop numbers in Niger to make room in its military base for Italian civilians who may need protection if security deteriorates.
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