brent: this is "dw news" live from berlin. tonight, the military junta in niger ignoring the deadline to return the president to power in office. threatening to take military action to put president bazoum back in power and return the country to civilian rule. also coming up, a mammoth cleanup is underway after a typhoon devastates parts of northern china, flooding and by

the storm has killed dozens of people. and authorities are calling it slovenia's worst ever natural disaster. the death toll of this weekend's extreme weather climbing to six as authorities begin a massive cleanup. dozens missing after more boats carrying migrants capsized in the mediterranean. tonight we look at why so many people choose to put their lives in the hands of migrant smugglers. ♪ i'm brent goff. to on pbs in the united states, our viewers watching on pbs in the united states, and to all of you around the world, welcome. we begin this monday with the crisis in niger. the military rulers have closed the country's airspace, accusing neighboring countries of planning an attack. the deadline for niger's new military rulers to reinstate the

president came and went yesterday and there are no signs that the junta plans to back down. the ecowas group of west african countries has called an emergency summit for this coming thursday. reporter: defiant and determined, nightmares junta -- niger's junta is doubling down. addressing thousands of supporters gathered at the capital, military leaders showed no sign of relinquishing control. >> today's gathering's testimony to your commitment and to your determination to change niger. reporter: coup-backers were undeterred by an ultimatum from the ecowas union to reinstate the country's democratically elected president mohamed bazoum. [protestors chanting] >> niger has suffered so much.

niger has taken responsibility. it wasn't just the military who took power, but the people who took power. what we have now and here is true democracy. reporter: ecowas had given the junta one week to stand down and warned it has a plan for a military intervention if necessary. as the deadline passed, niger's military leaders dug in. >> niger is faced with the threat of interventionis becomie actions of neighboring countries. therefore, our airspace is closed from this day on, for all aircraft, until further notice. there will be an immediate and energetic response to any attempts to enter our airspace. reporter: the skies around niger quickly emptied as the country braced for what comes next. ecowas faces immense challenges however it proceeds, with niger's's neighbors beginner far, and mali, both ruled by

military regimes backing the junta. they say any military intervention in niger will be seen as an act of war. brent: i spoke earlier with an expert on africa's sahel region. i asked her if there is consensus among ecowas countries on using military force against niger's crew leaders. >> no, there appears not to be. otherwise beyond questions of readiness and capacity, there would have been an intervention this past sunday, that was when the deadline for the junta expired. i think it is clear that there is some division within ecowas. the reality is that niger has now joined the other three suspended members of ecowas. out of a block of 15 countries, there are only 11 countries right now that are full members.

so, no, there is no clear consensus in terms of the use of force. it is only really nigeria that has been the most -- the loudest and the most vocal about pushing for a military intervention. brent: let me ask you about the credibility of ecowas, as you said, the deadline has come and gone, it was yesterday. and there has been no military intervention. the military junta basically called ecowas a.g. barr: bluff. -- ecowas's bluff. does the organization still have leverage? guest: it nigeria is still a big player. it is the largest economy in the continent and in the region, a country that is seen to have a lot of legitimacy. nigeria was not colonized by france, so some of the arguments that we have heard advanced in the context of niger such as which refer to the alleged damage and problematic

relationship they have with friends are not relative to nigeria. and nigeria has a good trade relationship with niger. as such, it has a lot of credibility. in this context it also is a country that has recently gone through its third democratic transition in recent times. so it is a huge moment to nigeria to prove their legitimacy on the global stage. brent: we have been seeing images of pro-coup, pro-junta rallies in niger. does that reflect how the people feel about the military takeover of their government? are they in favor of what has happened? guest: well, it is really difficult to know for sure. the reality is that near me, is in the southern part of the country -- niamey is in the part of the country where most of the

population is. if you look at history, it is reasonable to draw a conclusion that there is popular support for this group. unfortunately for niger, the norm is coup d'etat when there is an issue with the government, not democratic transitions. and unfortunately the pain of the economic crisis, this global recession and inflation has been felt in the world, and very accurately in niger. thank you ed crisis is such as instability issues, armed extremists, people probably felt desperate and felt that this was a possibility of change. and i think that also read has been very successful in africa in terms of getting people to endorse the idea that they are in anticolonial power. brent: we are hearing that the motivation for some of the

support has to do with the french colonial history in niger, also the fact that the united states has a strong counterterrorism military presence in niger. is there any validity to that? guest: i think there is. if we look at the situation, is very similar to the problematics we saw in the middle east, whether the iraq or afghanistan or elsewhere, when we talk about this idea. there needs to be a local buy-in. and also government ownership in any type of antiterrorist fight. because for people in niger, is not necessarily just for elements that are coming and creating these problems in their communities, there might be people within their own communities. these are decisions people make perhaps because they are not feeling like the government is providing them the services and the future they hope for. so this is in fact one of the reasons why when populations in

africa begin to look at a country like russia which didn't have colonies in africa, didn't have colonies elsewhere in the period of the ussr and some might say has ambitions now, as they are not in africa, at least not extensively in africa, there is feeling that at least with russia, it is a fair deal. something different. they feel like putin and even wagner group to some extent, have been very frank about the type of relationship they would like with african countries' populations. brent: the perception here, it is remarkable. abiol lual deng, we appreciate your analysis tonight, thank you. guest: thank you. brent: a look now at other stories making headlines around the world, ukraine's president has shared video and social media, he says, shows the aftermath of a russian missile attack in eastern ukraine. at least five people died in the

strike. dozens more were injured. zelenskyy says the missiles. a residential area that included hotels, restaurants, and shops. german industrial production fell more than expected in june, dropping 1.5%, 1% more than economists expected. german industry is experiencing weakness amid lower demand from china, higher interest rates, and the fallout from the energy crisis. the philippines has accused china's coast guard of spraying water cannon at its vessels near the spratly islands, which are disputed territory in the north china sea. manila says this footage, released by its coast guard shows a chinese boat blasting water towards a filipino military supply vessel. the indian opposition leader, rahul gandhi, has been reinstated, days after the country's top court ordered a review of his conviction for criminal defamation. lawmakers were seen cheering as

gandhi arrived at the parliament in new delhi. 's return is expected to strengthen india's opposition. he is prime minister narendra modi's main political opponent and had been sentenced to prison in march for marking modi's name. i asked our dw bureau chief much of a win this is for narendra -- -- four gandhi and his opposition party. guest: this is a big win. there was immense jubilation when the news first came out outside of congress party's headquarters. they tweeted, "this judgment was a triumph of love over hate." the timing is also very important, because this comes just days after a no-confidence motion against the government's with handling of violence in the stage of many poor and the

northeast of india -- in the state of manipur, in the northeast of india, which is dominated headlines for weeks. and 26 opposition parties have come together in an alliance and they want to challenge the bjp. we have a national election coming next year, and the congress party would like to see growth will gandhi take on narendra modi. brent: authorities in china are racing to clear up flooded streets and to restore power in the aftermath of typhoon doksuri. the storm has been blamed for dozens of deaths since making landfall last month. china has record rainfall in recent weeks, which is damaged the country's infrastructure. reporter: they have been shoveling mud for hours, left behind from flooding following the typhoon. northern provinces have seen the heaviest rainfall in recent

weeks, which left blocked roadways, power outages, and many fatalities in its wake. residents returning to the region are finding their homes buried in mud. >> as soon as i entered the house, there was over a foot of mud. all the furniture was ruined, completely soaked by floodwater. . i estimated the water level to be as high as me. i am 180 centimeters tall, that is how high the water was inside the house. the yard is filled with a terrible stench, and along the way, houses have collapsed. after so many years of hard work, it is heartbreaking. or food is all gone. i don't know how we will make ends meet. reporter: thousands of people have been displaced and are relying on the government for site relief package is to feed themselves. many are also checking on businesses and finding that their merchandise is to wait or to damaged to be sold.

>> i want to cry, but tears will not,. it's impossible to clean this up. >> the losses are definitely significant. a place where people used to live, the food -- the food, the cement, all of it has been sold by water. all of these items, there is no way of selling them. reporter: china has deployed soldiers and paramilitary forces to aid rescue efforts and restore infrastructure such as washed out storm drains and rail lines. but it may be weeks or months before life returns to normal for many in northern china. brent: extreme weather has also been hitting parts here in europe. at least six people died in severe storms and flooding that hit slovenia over the weekend. floodwaters forced thousands to flee their homes. authorities are putting the material damage at more than 500 million euros. reporter: it is slovenia's worst

natural disaster since achieving independence in the early 1990's. roads have turned into rivers, bridges have collapsed. videos are being shared on social media people fleeing the floodwaters. a french tourist filmed the moment her companion was rescued from northwestern pennsylvania. the flooding and landslides have caused enormous damage. entire communities have been demonstrated. the raging waters almost completely wiped out this town in northern slovenia. >> it's an apocalypse. a total disaster. unfortunately, since we are all dealing with the same trouble, there is nothing we can do. it's very sad. reporter: on monday, residents were busy clearing away the mud, revealing the full extent of the destruction. >> you have suffered severe

damage. the enormous financial loss has ruined us. the damage of most tens if not hundreds of millions of euros. it will take a large amount of money to restore everything. reporter: even though the rains have let up, rescue workers are now struggling with the threat of landslides not just in slovenia, but alsoo here in the southern austrian village of san nicolai. the risk of mudslides is especially high. >> with other mudslides, but we were powerless to stop it. reporter: it is hoped that drastic tarps like these will help prevent more mudslides. hundreds of people have been evacuated and brought to emergency shelters just in case. slovenia has asked the e.u. and nato for aid, especially with technical devices and military helicopters, as well as several prefabricated bridges after 40 meters long, to help access regions that are cut off. brent: and here are more

headlines from around the world. south korea says it will evacuate about 36,000 people from a scout jamboree because of a looming typhoon. the scouts will be best off the campsite -- will be bussed off the campsite. last week hundreds of them suffered heat related illnesses. russia says it will launch its first lunar landing spacecraft in nearly 50 years this coming friday. it was originally planned for 2022, but was delayed due to technical problems. the russians aim to establish a base on the moon by 2040. britton has began moving asylum-seekers onto a barge. on its south coast. it is part of the conservative government's lance to deter migrants entering the country legally. it was originally built to house 100 20 people, but the floating hostel has been modified to

accommodate 500 health. and safety officials have expressed safety concerns. dozens of migrants are missing, feared dead after two boats capsized off of the italian island of lum producer. it over the weekend were made by rough, stormy seas in the mediterranean. the number of migrants trying to make it to europe has surged in the last year, with many coming from sub-saharan africa, making the journey to libya or tunisia to try and cross the mediterranean in externally dangerous conditions, often in overcrowded boats. now the people making these treacherous journeys put their faith in the hands of criminals migrants smugglers. our next report looks at what the smugglers do, and why they do it. reporter: a rickety boat

overloaded with people in the mediterranean. images like this have become commonplace in the last decade, as the list of tragic drownings continues to grow. why so many people are unsearchable boats? in a word -- money. smugglers charge thousands of euros for a place in about. crowding them on means more profit. using more boats increases costs. the revenue from a single trip can be in the millions. many of those who do their dirty work of smuggling are migrants themselves, that most of the many ends up in the hands of international criminal gangs. how much money? it's impossible to say exactly. but european police agencies estimate revenues from smuggling at three-6 billion euros per year, based on tens of thousands of people paying an average of 2500 euros per person, some much more, up to 7000 euros each. the crossing is just one piece of the puzzle. smugglers provide a range of illegal services before and after. all at extremely high prices.

the risk is assumed by the passengers. smugglers are very rarely caught . for many migrants from further south the trip can start with false documents. an arduous desert crossing often follows. by the time people make it to the next stage, they are often out of cash. criminals exploit them as they try to save money to go on with their journey. some migrants who make it across or who take the overland route through turkey and southeastern eastern europe are packed into poorly ventilated trucks. they risked running out of oxygen while smugglers drive them across borders. many countries in the region have put up fencing, and patrolled their borders to keep migrants out. the smuggling is profitable precisely because it is illegal. the people crossing with smugglers have no legal option to immigrate. if they did, they could take a

flight for a few hundred euros, lasting a matter of hours. instead they pay thousands for a , journey that takes weeks or longer and costs many of them their lives. brent: earlier i spoke with hope barker from the border violence monitoring network. i asked her, just how violent our european borders for migrants? guest: indefinitely. this is a trend we have been observing as proliferating and worsening since 2017 which would amount to people being picked up from being, in many cases, tortured, stripped naked and forced illegally across borders without being able to claim asylum. it's a systematic process happening across the so-called western balkan route in a way that we cannot divide the responsibility to one single country or member state. the responsibility lies with the e.u. as you said, it is a border

policy that is worsening the situation of smuggling because it is impossible to move safely which creates this humanitarian situation that smugglers are profiting from. it is actually causing deaths as well, what we have monitored is that people are increasingly dying, drowning in the mediterranean during pushback's. brent: brent: do you think that european union authorities have the political will to stop these human traffickers? guest: i think if you take kilos as an example, a report showed the smugglers were not the nine injections that were arrested after disembarking from the ship, they were actually people in libya, linked with the eastern libyan authorities and had facilitated arrival from syria, had licensed the boat to navigate in libyan waters, and are actually connected to a leadership that the e.u. is finding billions of euros into as a way of stabilizing its migration control.

was to the e.u. is handing out billions of dollars to countries that are willingly perpetrating human rights violations, they can't say that they also have the political world stop forcing people into the hands of smugglers. brent: over top story tonight is about the crisis in niger. we know that in africa, you have states that are failing their publics. one reason why people are willing to migrate to europe. what is your message to the political leaders across africa? what should they be doing so that their people don't want to pick up and leave? guest: i think that is a very complex question. people will always migrate. regardless of crisis. this crisis might be happening now, but the climate crisis is incoming and people will be forced to move. it is really what can we do as european states to create safe and legal pathways so people can leave without risking their

deaths. you haven't seen headlines of smuggling gangs with ukrainians. that is because ukrainians have safe and legal pathways and it was possible for that to be done. we need to replicate that model for all people seeking safety. brent: there is no unified migrant migration policy in the european union, that has been a problem now for years. what do you say to europeans who say, "we also have a right to expect countries to protect your borders?" guest: there is a line of protecting borders and then there is violating international and union human rights law. we have an asylum system in writing where people have a right to a full, individualized assessment, to appeal, and they have a right to eliminate the country until the appeal has gone through. that is the system that is in line with the international and union's human rights law and that is what we need to expect.

protecting borders need to come in line with protecting the for the mental rites of people speaking safety -- seeking safety. brent: hope barker, we appreciate your insight tonight. thank you. guest: thank you. brent: in june, 700 people reportedly drowned off the coast of greece enabled carrying migrants capsized. this man from pakistan is one of the few who survived. reporter: ousmane is one of the lucky ones. the boat sinking has marked him deeply. >> when i sleep at night, i keep dreaming about the same voices screaming, "we are dying! save us!" and i can't sleep again for the next two hours. when i take a shower, i fear the water and i keep the bathroom door open. reporter: before he got on the boat, he spent several days in libya in a camp like this one. he describes, horrific

conditions there and adhesive treatment from people smugglers. >> in libya, they kept us starved. whenever my mother called, she would ask if i had eaten anything. i used to keep my mobile away from lightyear, unable to find the courage to answer her. it was a really hard time. i thought of turning back. but then i realized i would have to repay the loan i have taken out. and the agents said they would deduct a huge sum if everyone returned. reporter: usman believes that on the fatal night, the greek coast guard deliberately sank the migrant boat. >> they threw a rope and pulled our ship with that. that made the ship sink. when we fell into the water, we saw another ship was anchored a few kilometers away.

rather than rescuing us, they showed lights on us and watched us drown. reporter: he wanted to improve his family's's situation by working in europe. that dream ended with a nightmare that he barely escaped alive. brent: you are watching dw news. here is a reminder of our top story. niger's military rulers have closed their airspace, claiming neighboring countries are planning an attack. the military junta ignored a sunday deadline to restore the nation's elected president to power. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day "the day." stick around. we will be right back. ♪