The Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in West Africa. Niger is bordered by ALGERIA to the northwest, MALI and BURKINA FASO to the west, BENIN to the southwest, NIGERIA to the south, CHAD to the east, and LIBYA to the northeast.
By Gary Raynaldo – DIPLOMATIC TIMES
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened military action against Niger’s coup leaders if they fail to return the country’s ousted president to power. ECOWAS leaders met in an extraordinary summit Sunday and gave the putschists seven days to reinstate Niger’s elected leader, Mohamed Bazoum. ECOWAS also imposed multiple punitive measures, including closing land and air borders with Niger. On July 28, the head of Niger’s presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, declared himself head of state after the military seized power. The coup leaders have detained Bazoum in Niger’s capital city Niamey. Tiani said the military takeover was in response to president Bazoum’s failure to end deadly jihadist violence that has plagued the Sahelian country. Also anti-French sentiment has been boiling over several countries in the Sahel. Bazoum was a staunch ally of France and the West. Since 2020, coups have occurred in four West African nations, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Niger. France recently pulled French troops out of neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, ending its Barkhane operation against jihadists. Many west African leaders accused France of using its anti-terrorist operations as a pretext to maintain a presence in the region to exploit its vast mineral riches. Niger is home to the world’s seventh biggest producer of uranium. The heavy metal is crucial for nuclear power with nearly a third of it going to France.
Russia Influence Growing in Africa
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of Moscow mercenary Wagner Group. (Wikipedia Commons)
After the coup, there have been reports of demonstrators in Niger chanting pro-Russian slogans and waving Moscow’s flag. Protestors smashed windows at the French embassy and set a door on fire. Russia’s presence and influence in Africa has grown dramatically over the years. “Russia has arguably expanded its influence in Africa in recent years more than any other external actor,” according to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Russia’s Wagner Group has intervened in the affairs of several African countries, helping to expand Moscow’s influence across the continent. The mercenary group is founded by Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin. Wagner is most active in the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, Mali, and Sudan. Meanwhile, the military governments of Burkina Faso and Mali have warned that any military intervention against Niger’s coup leaders would be considered a “declaration of war” against their nations.
“The transitional governments of Burkina Faso and Mali express their fraternal solidarity … to the people of Niger, who have decided with full responsibility to take their destiny in hand and assume the fullness of their sovereignty before history,” the military governments of the two countries said. “Any military intervention against Niger would be tantamount to a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali,” they warned, adding that such a move could result in “disastrous consequences” that “could destabilise the entire region”.
-aljazeera
