West African leaders will discuss Niger on Thursday after the junta that seized power there on 26 July defied a deadline to reinstate the ousted president or face the threat of military intervention, a spokesman for the regional bloc said on Monday.
The Economic Community of West African States, Ecowas, which has sent military forces into troubled member states in the past, had told the junta to stand down by Sunday, but coup leaders instead closed Niger's airspace and pledged to defend the country.
