Niger reopens borders with five countries including Mali and Burkina Faso

Niger’s Army on Tuesday night announced that the country had reopened its border with a number of countries, including Mali and Burkina Faso. “The land and air borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Lybia and Chad are re-opened from today August 1, 2023,” Reuters quoted Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane as saying. Nigeria is currently leading the West African regional group, ECOWAS, which is opposed to the coup and threatening to use force against the junta to reinstate the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum. The reopening of the borders was announced hours after the first French evacuation flight took off and five days before a deadline to restore constitutional order issued by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS. Regional bloc ECOWAS has imposed sanctions, including a halt in all financial transactions and a national assets freeze, and said it could authorise force to reinstate Bazoum, who is still locked in his palace. But the juntas of neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali voiced their support for the coup’s leaders on Monday. With inputs from agencies