In our opinion the process (of transition) can be completed in six months so that the coup d’état does not become a fait accompli, the Algerian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Attaf, said in declarations published by local newspapers in their morning edition.

Attaf, who has just completed a tour of African countries in mediation efforts, sent his deputy at the Foreign Ministry, Lounes Magramane, on a tour for consultations with members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in mediation efforts.

A group of young soldiers, led by the head of Niger’s presidential guard, General Abdourahman Tiani, defenestrated President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and placed him under house arrest, whom they intend to try on charges of treason for calling for an armed intervention against his small and impoverished country.

The ECOWAS condemned the coup d’état and gave a deadline for the reinstatement of the ousted president, on pain of military intervention by the armies of its members.

The Nigerien military ignored the ultimatum and warned that, in the event of any operation against the country, they will try President Bazoum on charges of treason by calling for the invasion of the country by foreign forces. France, with strategic interests in Niger, in particular the uranium mines, unreservedly supports the ECOWAS position.

In the meantime, the governments of Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea (Conakry) supported the Niger assassination and the first two warned that they would consider as a declaration of war any military operation by ECOWAS against Niger.

Shortly after the coup d’état, the Algerian government, in addition to declaring itself against the planned military operation, which it considers a “direct threat against it”, warned that the intervention could set fire to the West African region, where Islamist armed groups are established.

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