Niger's coup leaders have told the West African bloc ECOWAS that they cannot receive a proposed mission to Niamey for "security" reasons, according to an official letter seen by AFP on Tuesday.
"The current context of public anger and revolt following the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS does not permit the welcoming of this delegation in the required conditions of serenity and security," the foreign ministry said in a letter to the ECOWAS representation in Niamey.
ECOWAS - the Economic Community of West African States - imposed trade and financial sanctions against Niger after rebel soldiers toppled the country's elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, on 26 July.
The bloc also issued an ultimatum, which expired on Sunday, for reinstating Bazoum or else face the risk of use of force.
It had sought to send a delegation to the capital Niamey on Tuesday ahead of a crisis summit on Thursday in Abuja, the Nigerian capital.
The coup leaders' letter, dated Monday, said: "The postponement of the announced mission to Niamey is necessary, as is the reworking of certain aspects of the (delegation's) schedule."
The schedule "includes meetings with certain personalities which cannot take place for obvious reasons of security given the atmosphere of the threat of aggression against Niger," it said.
'Restore democracy'
France stands by its policy of backing efforts to "restore democracy" in Niger, a diplomatic source told AFP on Tuesday.
But President Emmanuel Macron's government believes it is up to regional organisation ECOWAS "to take a decision on how to restore the constitutional order in Niger, whatever that decision may be", the source said.
"Like all our partners, we fully support the regional countries' efforts to restore democracy in Niger," the source added.
In its first official reaction since the coup leaders ignored the Sunday deadline to reinstate democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the ECOWAS regional bloc said it would meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said that he and his deposed government "are Niger's only legitimate authorities".
A foreign ministry official added that France was backing, "with force and determination", the ECOWAS efforts to reverse the Niger coup.
A source close to ECOWAS said an immediate military intervention to restore Bazoum was not envisaged at this stage, adding that the path to dialogue still appeared open.
Support for 'liberation' despite outcry
The coup that shook Niger nearly two weeks ago triggered an international outcry and curbs on domestic freedoms, yet many people in the capital say the change is a breath of fresh air.
Around 30,000 people turned out on Sunday for a rally in a Niamey stadium to support the soldiers who toppled Niger's elected president.
For foreign and local critics, the event was a stage-managed show, designed to back the coup leaders in their face-off with the West African bloc ECOWAS.
But within the stadium, and on the streets of Niamey, there were plenty of people who seemed genuinely relieved to see the end of 12 years in government by Bazoum's Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS).
"It's liberation!" said Ousseini Tinni, a mechanic.
"Given the situation that this country has been in for decades, we feel free," said Alhassane Adamou, an office administrator in the private sector.
Niamey has long been known as a stronghold of the opposition, and domestic critics of the coup and its impact on rights have kept their heads down.
The coup leaders have also announced the suspension of the constitution, banned demonstrations and arrested several of Bazoum's ministers, although there have not been mass arrests.
In this context, many of the people who spoke to AFP said democracy under the PNDS had been a sham.
"I support the soldiers 100%," said Samaila Abdourahim, a trader.
"Under the old regime, they talked about democracy but it was merely words. We weren't experiencing a democracy but a dictatorship."
Different view
Bazoum is feted abroad for his election in 2021 that ushered in Niger's first-ever peaceful transition of power since gaining independence from France in 1960.
But there is often a different view of Bazoum in Niamey, where many people nurse bitterness or disappointment.
They point to the condemnation of opposition leader Hama Amadou to a one-year jail term on charges of child trafficking - a sentence that made him ineligible for the election.
Riots broke out in the capital after Bazoum's victory that led to two deaths and 468 arrests.
In its 2022 Democracy Index, the Economist Intelligence Unit placed Niger among countries with "authoritarian regimes".
"We were afraid of expressing ourselves. As soon as you expressed your opinion, they came and arrested you," said Tinni.
Others spoke out about cronyism, corruption and insecurity that they said had flourished under the PNDS.
"This is what prompted the public to support the putsch," said Adamou, whose words drew nodding heads of support among the onlookers surrounding him.
Part of the hostility is directed towards France, whose support for Bazoum - a key ally in the French anti-jihadist strategy in the Sahel - is deemed to be proof of complicity.
Ken Opalo, an associate professor at Georgetown University in Washington, drew a parallel between the coup in Niger and military takeovers in neighbouring Mali in 2020 and Burkina Faso in 2022.
Foreign allies prioritised "stemming the flows of migrants, accessing natural resources, fighting jihadist(s) in the Sahel so they don't have to fight them in Western cities, and maintaining overall geopolitical influence in the region," he wrote in a blog.
"Democracy and economic development have mostly been subordinated to these larger objectives."
'Tolerate the military'
"President Bazoum launched a sincere effort to reform institutions and governance... but his capacity for changing the real practices of the state and its representatives was restricted by the need to balance the political forces that brought him to power," the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank said in a report on Monday.
The question is whether General Abdourahamane Tiani, Niger's latest strongman and a reputed confidant of former president Mahamadou Issoufou, will change things.
According to an opinion poll published in March 2022 by the survey firm Afrobarometer, more than half of those interviewed said they were dissatisfied with the functioning of democracy.
However, 61% said they preferred democracy to other forms of government - and 84% opposed dictatorship.
"If the military start to turn into politicians, we will rise up against them," said Abdourahim.
"If we tolerate them today, it's because it's in our interest for them to be there. Because now, it's us, the people, who will be making the decisions."
