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NIAMEY, Niger – The African Union (AU) held talks Monday on the Niger crisis as the country’s post-coup rulers appeared defiant but also pointed to diplomacy as a possible solution.
But the talks at the AU headquarters in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, coincided with an outburst of threats from the regime to impeach Niger’s ousted president.
“The AU Peace and Security Council is meeting to receive an update on the evolving situation in Niger and efforts to address it,” the pan-African body said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Among the attendees were the head of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, as well as representatives of Niger and the West African bloc ECOWAS, he said.
President Mohamed Bazoum, whose election in 2021 marked a milestone in the country’s turbulent history, was overthrown on July 26 by members of his presidential guard.
His ouster unleashed a shock wave in West Africa, where Mali and Burkina Faso, also hit by a jihadist insurgency, have also suffered military takeovers.
Seeking to stem the cascade of coups, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions on Niger and last week approved the deployment of a “reserve force to restore constitutional order.”
But uncertainties loom over any intervention, from operational feasibility to internal divisions within ECOWAS, and the bloc also says it wants a peaceful outcome.
On July 30, he issued a seven-day ultimatum to restore Bazoum or face possible use of force, but the deadline expired with no action.

Mixed signals have emerged from the regime as the crisis nears the end of its third week.
Over the weekend, coup leaders said they were open to a diplomatic push after their boss, Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani, met with Nigerian religious mediators.
Those talks came after a scheduled meeting of ECOWAS military chiefs in Ghana was postponed for “technical reasons”.
But late Sunday, Niger’s rulers declared they had gathered enough evidence to prosecute Bazoum for “high treason and undermining internal and external security.”
The legal threat was angrily condemned by ECOWAS.
In a statement, the bloc said it had learned of the threats “with astonishment.”
“It represents yet another form of provocation and contradicts the informed will (of the regime)… to restore constitutional order by peaceful means.”
Washington said it was “incredibly shocked” by the plan to try the detained president.
Bazoum’s foreign minister said on Monday there had been “pogroms” in the capital, Niamey, but did not specify who they were aimed at.
“Currently in Niamey… there are pogroms with hordes of young people excited by racial and ethnic hatred,” Hassoumi Massaoudou, the foreign minister of the ousted civilian government, told RFI and France 24.
“That is why there is an urgent need to stop this and put Niger back on the path of peace, stability and economic progress.”
Bazoum, 63, and his family have been held at the president’s official residence since the coup, amid growing international concern over their conditions of detention.
On Monday, the military-appointed prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian, declared that Niger would thwart the threat of ECOWAS sanctions.
“We think that although it is an unfair challenge that has been imposed on us, we must be able to overcome it. And we will get through it,” he told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
The bloc has cut off financial transactions and electricity supplies and closed borders with landlocked Niger, blocking much-needed imports to one of the world’s poorest countries.
Military leaders said Sunday that the sanctions make it harder for people to access medicine, food and electricity, describing the punishment as “illegal, inhumane and humiliating.”
But Zeine also stressed the importance of Niger’s ties with neighboring Nigeria, as well as the West African bloc.
“We have a great interest in preserving this important and historic relationship and also in ECOWAS working first on purely economic issues,” he said.

A landlocked nation in the heart of the arid Sahel, Niger is one of the poorest and most turbulent countries in the world.
It frequently ranks at the bottom of the Human Development Index, a UN prosperity benchmark.
Bazoum’s election in 2021 marked the first time the country had experienced a peaceful transition of power since it gained independence from France in 1960.
He survived two coup attempts before being ousted, in the fifth coup in the country’s history.
His ouster deals a heavy blow to the French and US strategy in the Sahel.
France has refocused its anti-jihadist operations on Niger after withdrawing from Mali and Burkina Faso last year following a break with their juntas.
It has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them at an air base near Niamey, while the Pentagon has around 1,000 military personnel.