NIGER’S military rulers have turned down a meeting aimed at finding a diplomatic resolution to the crisis in the west African country and to de-escalate tensions.

Yesterday Niger’s military ruler, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, said in a letter that he would not support a proposed visit by representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), the African Union and the United Nations.

Gen Tchiani said there were “evident reasons of security in this atmosphere of menace” against Niger, two weeks after soldiers deposed and detained president Mohamed Bazoum in a coup.

Ecowas, a generally West-friendly economic bloc consisting of 15 west African states that includes Niger and its southern neighbours Benin, Nigeria, has imposed strict trade and travel sanctions on the new military regime and gave the coup leaders until Sunday to release Mr Bazoum or face the possibility of armed intervention.

On Monday, acting United States Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met the coup leaders in Niger but was refused permission to meet Mr Bazoum or Gen Tiyani.

She described the coup leaders as unreceptive to her appeals to start negotiations and restore constitutional rule.

The US has expressed concerns about the possibility of Niger pulling its support for a major drone base it built in the country and says it is keen to see a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Ms Nuland said she made “absolutely clear the kinds of support that we will legally have to cut off if democracy is not restored.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova commented: “Nuland thought that the same could be done with Niger as with Ukraine: put cookies in a plastic bag and deceive them.” 

Ecowas is expected to meet again tomorrow to assess the situation, but pressure is mounting against any use of force: analysts say the window for military intervention is closing and the bloc is searching for a way out.

Algeria, which shares a nearly 600-mile border with Niger, has said it absolutely rejects military intervention as this would pose a direct threat to Algeria. 

And the coup has received support from the ruling juntas of Mali and Burkina Faso, its western neighbours in the Sahel region, the sub-Saharan area plagued by growing jihadist violence linked to al-Qaida and Isis franchises.

US-based Black Action for Peace said it condemned “the threats of the Ecowas to lead a military intervention into Niger. We believe this would be an act of subservience to US/EU/Nato interests.”

Journalist and lawyer Dimitri Lascaris asked in a tweet yesterday: “If Ecowas has the right to intervene militarily in Niger because of the overthrow of its elected president, then why didn’t Russia have the right to intervene militarily in Ukraine after Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in 2014?”