West African nations have imposed sanctions on Niger’s new military leaders following a coup to overthrow President Mohamed Bazoum last week. Coup leaders have warned against any foreign attempts to extract the democratically elected Bazoum, and they’ve accused former colonial ruler France of plotting a military intervention - which France denies. The allegations are the latest communications from the coup organizers who blamed insecurity, the economy and poor governance as reasons to depose the government, in a televised statement. And now there are growing concerns of an escalation on the ground, which could have broader implications on peace and security in the region. So what’s driving this power struggle in Niger and what happens next?
In this episode: 

Ahmed Idris (@Ahmedtj66), Al Jazeera Correspondent in Nigeria

Episode credits:
This episode was produced by Sonia Bhagat and Chloe K. Li with Miranda Lin and our host Malika Bilal. Khaled Soltan fact-checked this episode.
Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our lead of audience development and engagement is Aya Elmileik. Munera Al Dosari and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers.
Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio.
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