By Sam Mednick | Associated Press
NIAMEY, Niger — Foreign nationals lined up outside an airport in Niger’s capital to wait for French military evacuation flights Wednesday as defense officials of a regional bloc gathered to discuss how to respond to last week’s military coup in the West African nation.
France, Italy and Spain all have announced evacuations of their citizens and other Europeans in the capital, Niamey, following concerns they could become trapped after soldiers detained democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and seized power.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to use force to restore Bazoum to power, but the military-ruled governments of two of Niger’s neighbors have sided with the coup leaders and warned that they would consider any intervention an act of war.
A two-day meeting of defense chiefs of the 15-member bloc opened Wednesday in Nigeria’s capital to discuss next steps. Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and stability, said the meeting would deal with how to “negotiate with the officers in the hostage situation that we find ourselves in the Republic of Niger.”
ECOWAS on Sunday also announced sanctions against the coup leaders including a block on energy transactions with Niger, which gets up to 90 percent of its power from neighboring Nigeria, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Power transmission from Nigeria to Niger was cut off as of Tuesday, an official at one of Nigeria’s main electricity companies said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the issue. The official did not clarify how much of Niger’s power the cut represented, but any cut would further squeeze citizens in the impoverished country of more than 25 million people.
The U.S. government has yet to announce any decision on evacuation for American forces, diplomats, aid workers and other U.S. citizens in Niger, an important…
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