West African countries and global powers are hoping that there is still a window of opportunity for mediation with Niger's coup leaders before a Thursday summit that could agree on a military intervention to restore democracy.
The coup leaders have vowed to resist all external pressure to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, after regional bloc ECOWASThe crisis - the seventh power grab in West and Central Africa in three years - has attracted global attention, partly due to Niger's pivotal role in a war with Islamist militants in the Sahel region and its uranium and oil reserves that give it economic and strategic importance for the United States, Europe, China and Russia.
with senior junta officials but said they did not take up U.S. suggestions for restoring democratic order.The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc has taken a harder stance on the Niger coup than it did on previous ones, and its credibility is at stake because it had said it would tolerate no further such overthrows.
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