SUPPORTS THE COUP: Both Russia and Niger’s flags were displayed during demonstrations outside Niger’s national assembly in Niamey on 30 July. Photo: ISSIFOU DJIBO / EPA / NTB
The coup plotters in Niger break several military cooperation agreements with France. The country’s deposed president is asking the international community for help.
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Niger’s ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, is asking the international community for help after last week’s military coup. The coup plotters broke several military cooperation agreements with France last night. Bazoum warns of increased Russian influence in Niger and the surrounding region after the coup, and refers to the notorious Wagner group. Show more
Last night, the Washington Post published a desperate column from Mohamed Bazoum.
He was Niger’s first democratically elected head of state since independence from France, but was deposed in a military coup on Wednesday last week.
General Abdourahamane Tiani has declared himself the country’s new leader. The coup plotters claim the president has not done enough to save the impoverished country from radical Islamist rebels.
The ousted president, for his part, claims that the situation will only get worse with the coup plotters in power. He asks the US authorities and the rest of the West for help.
– I am writing this as a hostage. Niger is under attack from a military junta that is trying to override our democracy, he writes in Washington Post.
– If they succeed, it will be devastating for our country, our region and for the whole world.
HAS TAKEN POWER: General Abdourahmane Tiani during a meeting with ministers in the city of Niamey on 28 July. Photo: STRINGER / Reuters / NTB
Warns against the Wagner group
In connection with the coup, demonstrators in the country have shown strong support for Russia and President Vladimir Putin – and strong opposition to their former colonial power, France.
The demonstrations in support of the coup plotters continued on Thursday, writes Al Jazeera.
– We are interested in security, whether it comes from Russia, China, Turkey – if they want to help us. We just don’t want France, which has plundered us since 1960 – they have been here since and nothing has changed, says one of the protesters, Issiaka Hamadou, to the channel.
Deposed President Bazoum has been an important ally with the West in the fight against militant Islamists in West Africa.
In particular, the country has been a close ally of the US and precisely France. Between 1,000 and 1,500 French soldiers are in Niger as part of an effort against extremist groups such as the Islamic State and al-Qaeda, writes Reuters.
ALLIED WITH THE WEST: President Mohamed Bazoum (right) speaks during a UN conference in Niger in May 2020. UN Secretary-General Antionio Guterres on the left. Photo: ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP / NTB
Night to Friday Norwegian time, the coup plotters announce that they are breaking several of Niger’s military cooperation agreements with France.
They also say that the ambassadors from France, Nigeria, Togo and the USA are no longer welcome in the country, writes NTB.
In the article in the Washington Post, deposed president Mohamed Bazoum strongly warns against possible increased Russian influence in Niger.
Late in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin invited over 50 African leaders to a summit in St. Petersburg.
– With an open invitation from the coup plotters and their allies in the region, the entire SahelSahelSahel region will stretch across the African continent from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Sahel forms a belt that is from a few hundred to a thousand kilometers wide, and consists of parts of Mali, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Mauritiania, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan and Eritrea. – the region could fall under Russian influence via the Wagner Group. Their cruel terrorism has been visible to everyone in Ukraine, writes the president.
Comment: Will Prigozhin also come to Niger?
Niger’s neighboring countries Mali and Burkina Faso support the coup plotters in Niger.
It is known that the infamous Wagner group is present in Mali with its mercenaries, where they will contribute to the fight against jihadists and terrorists in the north of the country.
– Instead of addressing security concerns by strengthening themselves, they hire criminal Russian mercenaries like the Wagner group at the expense of people’s rights and dignity, writes Bazoum, referring to neighboring countries.
Other neighboring countries in the West African cooperation organization Ecowas Ecowas The Economic Community of West African States is a regional cooperation body with 15 member states. has broken with Niger and demanded that the coup plotters reinstate the president. They have threatened the junta that the coup could have military consequences, and that they are considering deploying their own soldiers.
Night to Friday, the junta says in a statement that they will take revenge if this happens.
More bargains in the area
From coast to coast, in the so-called Sahel region south of the Sahara, there have been six military coups in six countries, in just three years. The Sahel is described as the world’s most conflict-ridden and neglected region.
Africa expert and senior researcher at NUPI, Morten Bøås, told VG last week that it is not surprising that there is a coup right here:
– The countries in the Sahel belt are some of the world’s weakest and most dysfunctional states.
When democratically elected politicians fail to contribute to making life better for their citizens, and the citizens do not feel that they are being listened to, it becomes easier to carry out a coup, believes Bøås. He also explained that the coup supporters do not have a very strong link with Russia.
– Putin and the Russian flag are used as a symbol of opposition to what they believe is the “imperial West”. Those who wave the Russian flag probably know little about Russian politics or their actions in Ukraine, he said.
Published:
Published: 04.08.23 at 01:58
Updated: 04.08.23 at 03:32
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2023-08-03 23:58:12
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