Two Nigerian envoys, who were allowed into Niger despite the full border closure, met with the country's military leaders on Wednesday in hopes of finding a diplomatic solution to the current crisis and embarking on a peace process.
The country's prominent traditional leaders, Lamido Muhammad Sanusi and Abdullsalami Abubarkar, led the delegation from Nigeria. Sanusi met in Niger's capital, Niamey, with General Abdourahmane Tchiani, who proclaimed himself interim leader and president of the caretaker National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland after the military takeover.
"We’ll continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time for public diplomacy," Sanusi told journalists upon his return to Abuja, Nigeria.
At the same time, his counterpart, Abubarkar, held a meeting with other representatives of the coup leadership at the airport.
Niger's military has reportedly rejected diplomatic overtures from African, US and UN envoys. However, the coup leaders made an exception and met with the envoys from Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who also chairs ECOWAS.
This comes as the regional political and economic union is set to hold its second emergency summit on the recent military coup in Niger in Abuja on Thursday.
Earlier, on Tuesday, Ajuri Ngelale, a representative of the President of Nigeria, announced the desire of the ECOWAS bloc to use diplomatic measures to resolve the situation in Niger, adding, however, that other options are not excluded.
On July 30, during the first such meeting, the West African nations condemned the coup, and suspended financial aid to the country, while giving the military leaders one week to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, who was overthrown by his own elite guard on July 26. ECOWAS warned of possible military intervention if the bloc's demands were not met.
Following ECOWAS' response to the coup, Niger's military leader, Tchiani, blasted the regional bloc's sanctions as "inhumane" and insisted that the leadership would not bow to international demands to reinstate the ousted president, Bazoum. Later, the military rulers closed the country's airspace "in the face of the threat of armed intervention".
According to media reports, a high-level delegation of envoys from the African Union, ECOWAS, and the United Nations was expected to travel to Niger for talks with the rebels. But the coup leaders said that the threat of sanctions and invasion by ECOWAS had sparked public outrage, making it unsafe to host their delegation peacefully and safely.
The second ECOWAS gathering on Niger, scheduled for August 10, is expected to either finalize the intervention plan or come up with other solutions, including diplomatic ones, to resolve the crisis in a peaceful manner.