niger s prime minister was in paris on saturday, meeting lawmakers and greeting protestors outside the country s embassy. he has dismissed that pro coup protests are taking place in his country. i m joined now by cameron hudson, a senior associate at the centre for strategic and international studies africa programme. he s an analyst and consultant on african peace, security, and governance issues. thank you forjoining us this morning. firstly, this breaking news that we are getting bad military leaders closing the airspace and of course this comes after the deadline has passed for thejean todt course this comes after the deadline has passed for the jean todt to step down. how likely is a military intervention now? i down. how likely is a military intervention now? down. how likely is a military intervention now? i think it is very unlikely at intervention now? i think it is very unlikely at this intervention now? i think it is very unlikely at this stage. intervention now? i
welcome to newsday. reporting live from singapore, i m mariko oi. the headlines: niger s military leaders close its airspace, blaming threats of intervention after a deadline to reinstate the ousted president expires. rescue efforts continue in china after typhoon doksuri batters the country s northeast. in the uk the first group of asylum seekers to be housed on a boat are expected to be moved there on monday. and barbie hits $1 billion at the global box office, making history for its director, greta gerwig.
literally they are inside the population, the weight they see the role played by the colonial master thatis role played by the colonial master that is france. these are some factors that are really playing in the majority of what is happening. there have been some allegations made towards france and one of them is that france has been exploiting uranium in the country whereas money could have been given to the country to help build a dam, produce electricity for niger. is that really a reason and niger and france has been courted throughout this cool period, is that one of the key reasons? . ~ cool period, is that one of the key reasons? w ., ~ cool period, is that one of the key reasons? w ., ~ , reasons? kick no, i think these allegations. reasons? kick no, i think these allegations, if reasons? kick no, i think these allegations, if you reasons? kick no, i think these allegations, if you take - reasons? kick no, i think these allegations, if you take an - reasons? kick no, i
and they say that france has not helped in any way to curb the islamist and jihadist operations in that part of the sahel region. and so they believe that it was time for a change, to see if the military would bring them that much desired change. but on the flip side, civil society groups and other private individuals also believe that they want democracy to continue, as it would offer them the freedom of expression and their human rights would be protected. plenty of western nations will be keeping a keen eye on events, now that deadline in niger has passed. our reporter nicky schiller has been looking at why. why is niger so important? first of all, geographically, it is the largest country in west africa. it is also part of the key strip of land known as the sahel which runs from the red sea
there has not been widespread condemnation of the key within niger. this was a demonstration backing the coup leaders and against sanctions imposed by ecowas. neighbouring countries mali, burkina faso and guinea have also leant their support to the coup leaders. and algeria, which borders niger to the north, has said it is categorically against armed intervention. france, though, says it will support efforts by ecowas to restore niger s elected president. france is a former colonial power in niger. niger 5 prime minister was in paris on saturday meeting lawmakers and greeting protestors outside the niger embassy. he has dismissed pro coup protests taking place in his country. our correspondent in lagos in neighbouring nigeria, explained why many residents support the coup.