Niger: Germany backs diplomatic solution ahead of summit

Germany said on Wednesday that it supported a non-violent solution in response to the coup in Niger, as the country's military junta took steps to deepen its hold on power while rejecting international efforts to mediate.

"We naturally welcome the fact that ECOWAS is continuing its efforts to exhaust all diplomatic options and is now trying to reach a solution in this way. Knowing full well that the threat of military intervention is of course still there," a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry said in Berlin on Wednesday. 

The remarks came ahead of Thursday's special summit of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), where heads of state will meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja to discuss the situation in Niger, including the possible use of force to restore constitutional order. 

On Tuesday, Nigeria's President and ECOWAS chairman Bola Tinubu imposed more sanctions on Niger, targeting entities and individuals involved in the coup, warning that all options remained on the table. 

Germany's Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it wants to send an observer to the meeting to hold talks on the situation in Niger.  

"Our demand is and remains the return to constitutional order," the spokesman said. 

German Development Minister Svenja Schulze is expected to fly to the region next week and hold talks with ECOWAS, according to a spokeswoman.  

Ousted President Bazoum and family in 'cruel conditions'  

Meanwhile, ousted president Mohamed Bazoum and his family remain detained under house arrest under what his party said Wednesday were "cruel" and "inhumane" conditions. 

Bazoum, the West African nation's democratically elected leader, has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since the coup on July 26. 

The residence is said to have no running water, no electricity and no access to food or doctors since five days. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Bazoum on Tuesday, a spokesman said, with Blinken having "emphasized that the safety and security of President Bazoum and his family are paramount."

The US State Department on Wednesday expressed concern over "deteriorating conditions" at the residence and called for the family's immediate release.

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EU plans sanctions: sources 

EU countries are said to be laying the groundwork to apply the bloc's first sanctions on members of the Niger junta, sources told Reuters news agency on Wednesday. 

An unnamed EU official involved in sanctions work and another unnamed EU diplomat told Reuters that the bloc has begun discussing criteria for punitive measures, which would include "undermining of democracy" in Niger and was likely to be agreed soon. 

 "The next step would be sanctions against individual members of the junta," the EU diplomat told Reuters. 

Junta accuses France of causing instability 

Niger's military regime accused France on Wednesday of having released several militants, and also of allowing a military plane to enter closed Nigerien air space. 

"Events of an extreme gravity are unfolding in Niger as a result of the behavior of the French forces and their accomplices," the coup leaders, called the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), said in a statement. 

But the French government swiftly rejected the claims with government sources telling AFP news agency that the flight in question had been "authorized by and coordinated with" Niger's armed forces. 

"No attack against a Nigerien camp took place," the foreign ministry also said in a statement. 

France still has some 1,500 troops in Niger, who were stationed there to support the country in its fight against Islamist militants in the Sahel since 2015. 

jcg/wmr (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)