Staff Writer
Before the army dispersed the mob on Sunday, thousands of supporters of the coup in Niger marched through the city’s streets criticizing the nation’s former colonial power and setting a door at the French Embassy on fire.
President Vladimir Putin wants to increase Russia’s influence in the area because the Russian mercenary force Wagner is active in neighboring Mali.
The leaders of the new junta have not indicated whether they will support Niger’s Western allies or turn their attention to Moscow.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, declared on Sunday that anyone who attacks French nationals will face an instant response and that attacks on France and its interests would not be accepted.
Until 1960, Niger was a French territory, and it had been seen of as the West’s last trustworthy ally in the Sahel region of Africa’s fight against jihadists. 1,500 French soldiers are stationed there, participating in joint operations with Nigerian forces.
The United States and other European nations have contributed to the nation’s military training.
The West African bloc known as ECOWAS declared at a Sunday emergency meeting that it was cutting diplomatic ties with Niger and had approved the use of force if President Mohamed Bazoum was not restored within a week.
The junta in Niger has been given a 15-day deadline by the African Union to restore the democratically elected government.
According to the Chadian state radio station, President Mahamat Deby traveled to Niger shortly after the ECOWAS meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, to oversee mediation efforts.
Bazoum was democratically elected two years ago, marking the first peaceful transition of power in Niger since its independence from France in 1960, despite the fact that ECOWAS has historically struggled to have a significant impact on the region’s political difficulties.
On Friday, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani was sworn in as the new president of Niger, following the military’s announcement on Wednesday that they had ousted Bazoum. This brings the Sahel area of West Africa’s Niger to a rising number of military governments.
Some mutiny leaders said that they deposed Bazoum because he was unable to protect the country from the spread of extremist violence. However, some experts and Nigerians claim that was just a cover for an invasion motivated by internal power conflicts.
According to professor Amad Hassane Boubacar of the University of Niamey, “we couldn’t expect a coup in Niger because there is no social, political, or security situation that would justify that the military take the power.”
He said that Tchiani, the head of the presidential guard, was to be replaced by Bazoum. According to Boubacar, the issues started because Tchiani, also known as Omar, was a devoted supporter of Bazoum’s predecessor.
While neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali have also been dealing with an Islamic insurgency linked to both al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization, their catastrophic security situations are worse than Niger’s.
According to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, Niger was the only one of the three countries to experience a decrease in violence last year.
Those who took part in the event on Sunday cautioned visitors to stay away.
At the protest, Oumar Barou Moussa urged the European Union, African Union, and ECOWAS to “please, please stay out of our business.” “It’s time for us to live our lives and make our own way in the world. We should now discuss our freedom and liberty.
Given the millions of dollars in foreign military aid it has received, Niger is the Sahel nation with the most to lose if it rejects the West.
The sustained security and economic cooperation with the United States, according to American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, depends on Bazoum’s release from house arrest as well as “the immediate restoration of the democratic order in Niger.”
On Sunday, according to Macron, he spoke with Bazoum and his predecessor. France stopped all financial and development assistance to Niger on Saturday.
The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc has made fruitless attempts to reestablish democracy in countries where the military has assumed power. Four countries in West and Central Africa are governed by military regimes.
The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc has made fruitless attempts to reestablish democracy in countries where the military has assumed power. In West and Central Africa, where there have been nine successful or attempted coups since 2020, four countries are ruled by military regimes.
The sanctions imposed on Niger on Sunday, despite the bloc’s struggles to make much of an impact, demonstrate the severity of the issue, according to Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow at the Clingendael Institute.
“The tough measures they’ve implemented or threatened to implement show not only how seriously they’re taking this crisis, but also the urgency the regional organization and larger international community feel in trying to force a return to normal that will probably prove elusive,” he added.
The bloc’s reaction to the coups in Mali and Burkina Faso did not involve the threat of using force if constitutional rule was not restored, in contrast to how it responded to the coups in Niger.
It has dispatched soldiers into member nations a few times in the recent decades.
ECOWAS intervened in Liberia’s civil war in the 1990s. It intervened in The Gambia in 2017 to stop Yahya Jammeh, the outgoing president, from interfering with the transfer of power.
According to the Global Observatory, which conducts research on peace and security concerns, some 7,000 troops from Ghana, Nigeria, and Senegal entered.
According to the most recent data, economic sanctions could have a significant impact on Nigeriens, who reside in the third-poorest nation in the world.
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency, up to 90% of the nation’s power imports come from Nigeria. All business and financial dealings between ECOWAS member states and Niger will be halted as a result of the sanctions.
Col. Major Amadou Abdramane, one of the troops who overthrew Bazoum, claimed in a televised speech on Saturday that the meeting produced a “plan of aggression” against Niger and that the nation would fight itself.
The military and I are still at odds. After this coup, there might be another one or ECOWAS might intervene more forcefully, according to Tatiana Smirnova, a researcher at the Centre FrancoPaix who specializes in peacekeeping and conflict resolution.
There are many parties involved in the negotiations, but it is uncertain what will happen.
