International pressure is mounting on the leaders of the coup in Niger as the US vowed support for West African governments threatening to use force to restore the nation’s democracy.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the efforts of the regional bloc known as ECOWAS to reinstate toppled President Mohamed Bazoum are “important, strong and have our support.”

Senegal’s foreign affairs minister said her country would participate in a military intervention if ECOWAS decides to take action. “Senegalese soldiers have to go … these coups d’état must be stopped,” Aissata Tall Sall said.

Last week’s coup toppled Bazoum, whose ascendency marked Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from France in 1960. The coup has stirred strident anti-French sentiment and raised questions about the future of the fight against extremism in Africa’s Sahel region, where Russia and Western countries have vied for influence.

The coup has been condemned by Western countries and the ECOWAS bloc, which has threatened to forcibly remove the junta if it does not hand back power to Bazoum. As tensions have grown in the capital of Niamey and the region, many European countries have moved to evacuate their citizens.

At a rally on Thursday organised by the junta and civil society groups on Niger’s independence day, protesters, some waving Russian flags, chanted support for neighbouring countries that have also seen military takeovers in recent years.

It remains unclear whether a majority of the population supports the coup, and in many parts of the capital, people went about their lives on Thursday as normal.

US President Joe Biden used the occasion of Niger’s independence day to call for Bazoum to be released and democracy restored.

“The Nigerien people have the right to choose their leaders. They have expressed their will through free and fair elections — and that must be respected,” he said in a statement.

In an address to the nation on Wednesday, the new military ruler, Genral Abdourahmane Tchiani called on the population to be ready to defend the nation. He said harsh sanctions imposed last week by ECOWAS were illegal, unfair and inhuman.

The ECOWAS bloc has set a deadline of Sunday for the junta to reinstate Bazoum, who remains under house arrest.

At the expiration of the deadline, the bloc is expected to decide by consensus on the next step as recommended by its defence chiefs.

At a meeting in Abuja, Nigerian defence spokesman Brigadier General Tukur Ismaila Gusau,  said the bloc’s defence chiefs have been asked to come up with a military solution, which they hope will be “the last option.”

The bloc’s sanctions include halting energy transactions with Niger, which gets up to 90 per cent of its power from neighbouring Nigeria, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.

There are fears the junta could limit the export of uranium from Niger, which contributes 5 per cent of the global share, according to the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

France has 1,500 soldiers in Niger who conduct joint operations with its military against jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. The United States and other European countries have helped train Niger’s troops.

Niger was seen as the West’s last reliable partner in the region, but some in the country see Russia and its Wagner mercenary group, which operates in a handful of African countries, as a powerful alternative.

Neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso — both ruled by juntas — have turned toward Moscow.

– AAP