Few Options on Niger Crisis for West African Leaders

West African leaders gathered on Thursday for a crucial summit meeting to address the crisis in Niger, where the mutinous soldiers who seized power more than two weeks ago have shunned mediation efforts and ignored an ultimatum to relinquish power.

Hopes for an end to the stalemate were already dim before the junta on Thursday replaced the cabinet of the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, with a new government, made up of 21 officials led by Ali Lamine Zeine, an economist and former finance…