West African leaders gathered on Thursday for a critical summit to address the crisis in Niger, where the mutinous soldiers who seized power more than two weeks ago have shunned mediation efforts and ignored an ultimatum to relinquish power.
Hopes for an end to the stalemate were already dim before the junta on Thursday replaced the cabinet of the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, with a new government made up of 21 officials led by Ali Lamine Zeine, an economist and former finance minister.
The two highest-ranking officials after Mr. Zeine are both generals and coup leaders.
As the military junta strengthened its grip on power, envoys from the Economic Community of West African States, the 15-nation regional bloc known as ECOWAS that had threatened military intervention if Mr. Bazoum was not reinstated, convened in Nigeria, but their options appeared to be limited.
The deadline to return Mr. Bazoum to power passed on Sunday, with few consequences so far, and the prospect of a military intervention to remove the new government appeared unlikely, according to most observers.
Persons:
Mohamed Bazoum, Ali Lamine Zeine, Zeine, Bazoum
Organizations:
Economic, West
Locations:
Niger, West African States, Nigeria