The coup d’état in Niger this July 26 was bound to send shockwaves through nearby capitals — and just four days later, a joint statement from the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) duly expressed “zero tolerance for unconstitutional change.” One signatory was Senegal’s president Macky Sall, who has taken a firm stance since rebel officers seized power in Niamey. Last week, decrying “one coup too many,” his foreign minister pledged that Senegal was ready to join an ECOWAS military intervention in the country, unless the coup leaders hand power back to the democratically elected government. With Niger’s military junta ignoring the original deadline and diplomatic efforts still floundering, leaders from the fifteen-member bloc are meeting again on Thursday to determine the next steps.

But for many Senegalese, their government’s rhetoric about the rule of law rings hollow. Even as it decries the putsch in Niger, this key ally of Washington and Paris is overseeing one of the most brutal crackdowns on political opposition since the country won independence in 1960.