Many in Niger are suffering under coup-related sanctions. Junta backers call it a worthy sacrifice

abcnews.go.com:

Families in Niger say they are struggling after economic sanctions imposed in response to a military coup three months ago

NIAMEY, Niger — Hamsa Diakite can't remember the last time her family of eight had a good meal.

She once sustained them by selling fried bread until a coup in Niger three months ago resulted in sanctions against the West African nation, squeezing incomes in one of the world's poorest countries and leaving millions like Hamsa struggling in the absence of aid.

“Not only is food very expensive, but school supplies have also doubled in price. I also have to clothe my children and, above all, deal with their illnesses,” the 65-year-old said.

After elite soldiers toppled Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, the country faced economic sanctions from West Africa's regional bloc, ECOWAS, as well as Western and European countries including the United States that had provided aid for health, security and infrastructure needs.

Neighbors shut their borders with Niger and more than 70% of its electricity, supplied by Nigeria, was cut off after financial transactions with West African countries were suspended. Niger's assets in external banks were frozen and hundreds of millions of dollars in aid were withheld.

The sanctions are the most stringent yet imposed by the regional bloc in an effort to stem the tide of coups in Africa’s volatile Sahel region, but they have had little or no impact on the junta’s ambition.

Instead, they have hit hard Niger's more than 25 million people.

“We are quickly running out of funding, medicines. People are running out of food,” Louise Aubin, the United Nations resident coordinator in Niger, told The Associated Press. The junta has since told her to