Niger is the latest victim of Africa’s development paradox

Niger is the latest victim of Africa’s development paradox

Post By World Coup in Niger, development, ECOWAS, euroviews, Niger, Sahel

By Hippolyte Fofack, Chief Economist and Director of Research, African Export-Import Bank

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

Under the sticky colonial development model of resource extraction, African natural resources have been a blessing for former colonial powers and a curse for source countries and the entire continent as a whole, Hippolyte Fofack writes.

When the homeland is dying, it is everyone’s fault.

And for now, that dying homeland is Niger, the usually-overlooked and landlocked West African nation that has been commanding headlines in even the Western media since late July when the latest in a long line of coups in the Sahel region — stretching from the Atlantic to the Red Sea along the southern edge of the Sahara — was announced by the country’s military.

African affairs typically only enter the mainstream media in the context of humanitarian crises or through the geopolitical prism.

And sure enough, in this case, the West — led by the US and France, the former colonial power — is concerned that Niger will follow the path already taken in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali in the new “scramble for Africa”.

The sudden rise in interest in a country that most people might have trouble distinguishing from Nigeria, its southern neighbour, has put a spotlight on Niger and offered an opportunity to reflect on the key development challenges confronting the region.

Chief among these is the stickiness of the highly extroverted colonial development model of resource extraction, which has been at the root of intergenerational poverty in Niger and other African states, as well as environmental stresses that fuel insecurity and amplify migration pressures.

A country is so rich, yet its people are poor

Niger is the quintessence of Africa’s development paradox. The country is one of the most natural resource-rich in the world and endowed with plentiful renewable and non-renewable energy sources, but is also one of the world’s poorest.

Despite being one of the leading producers of gold and a major supplier of uranium, Niger suffers from one of the highest poverty rates in the world and is ranked third from last on the United Nations Human Development Index, ahead of only Chad and South Sudan.

More than 10 million Nigeriens (around 42% of its population) live in extreme poverty, and only 58% of children attend school, down from 66% in 2017.

Violence and insecurity have caused mass displacement and school closures, with almost 900 schools having been shuttered across affected communities.

Things have gone from bad to worse in Niger and, indeed, in many Sahelian countries, where more than 22,000 Africans were killed in jihadist-related violence in the 12 months to June 2023, a 50% increase from the year prior.

Terrorist acts and pitch-dark blackouts

Niger’s population has suffocated under a combination of immiserising growth, mismanagement of natural resources, intergenerational poverty, climate disaster, and rampant insecurity.

Countless villages have been destroyed by itinerant terrorists whose firepower has grown ever more powerful year after year, despite the proliferation of foreign military bases and drone stations in the country.

Niger hosts strategic US drone bases and French soldiers, as well as troops from Germany, Italy, and Canada.

On top of that, Niger was plunged into blackouts just days after the coup when Nigeria cut off the supply of electricity to its neighbour, in contravention of its obligations as a member of the nine-country Niger Basin Authority.

The power cuts risk exacerbating insecurity and social stresses in Niger, which has already come under draconian economic and financial sanctions imposed by the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS.

In addition to freezing Nigerien assets held in regional central banks, these sanctions suspended all commercial and financial transactions between Niger and other member states.

Neighbouring Nigeria suffers from the same paradox

There is a certain irony to Nigeria cutting Niger’s access to power. In normal times, the former provides around 70% of the total electricity consumed by the latter’s homes and industries — despite Nigerians themselves suffering frequent blackouts, which occur so often that the power supply in the country has been called “epileptic”.

Despite being the largest oil exporter on the continent, Nigeria is actually one of the most energy-poor countries in the world in per capita terms—its citizens consume 113 kilowatt hours of energy per capita annually, against a continental average of 317 kilowatt hours.

Typically, Nigeria’s power system is able to dispatch only around 4 gigawatts per day, far too little to support its population of more than 220 million people.

Around 60% of Nigerians have access to electricity. For the neighbours to the north in Niger where citizens consume a paltry 51 kilowatt hours of energy per capita annually, that percentage stands at less than 20%, and just 9.1% in rural areas, even though the country is endowed with remarkable resource wealth.

It is one of the world’s leading producers of high-grade uranium, the radioactive material essential to the production of nuclear energy in Europe. Niger’s uranium has served its former colonial possessor, France, especially well.

Let there be light — thanks to Nigeiren uranium

Over a third of all lamps in France light up thanks to Nigerian uranium. Around 70% of France’s electricity is derived from nuclear energy, which has enabled French citizens to consume over 6,950 kilowatts hours of energy per capita annually, one of the highest in the world.

Last year, Niger supplied 1,440 tonnes of the country’s natural uranium, accounting for almost 30% of all such imports between 2020-22. More broadly, Niger accounts for a fifth of the European Union’s uranium supplies.

In 2013 the UK-based anti-poverty organization Oxfam published a report detailing how French multinational companies were profiting massively from Niger’s uranium.

Figures show that in 2010, two Nigerien subsidiaries of Areva, the French nuclear power multinational, extracted 114,346 metric tonnes of uranium in Niger with an export value of more than €3.5 billion, of which just 13% (around €450m) was paid to Niger.

That share has hardly changed in the intervening years, and with rising military expenditures and constraints on the domestic revenue mobilisation side of the sovereign balance sheet, Niger has fallen into a debilitating donor dependency trap.

The government depends on foreign aid for around 40% of its budget.

‘David vs Goliath struggle’

Watchdogs have documented over several years the extent to which the contracts between successive Nigerien governments and multinational companies have exploited the country’s uranium wealth to the detriment of its citizens, both financially and environmentally.

Niger’s efforts to secure greater benefits from its natural resources were aptly described by Oxfam as a “David vs Goliath struggle”.

In 2010, a Greenpeace investigation revealed dangerous radiation levels among Nigeriens working in the mining sector, with people suffering from unexplained diseases affecting their skin, liver, kidneys, and lungs.

And earlier this year the France-based Independent Research and Information Commission on Radioactivity found that 20 million tonnes of waste from a recently depleted uranium mine was spreading radon, a potentially lethal radioactive gas, polluting the air and contaminating the soil and water supplies.

Natural resources, a blessing for some, for others a curse

Numerous reports have also documented the climate crimes committed by multinational oil companies, most notably Shell in Nigeria and more specifically in the Niger Delta, the oil-rich region devastated by pollution from oil spills that have cost many residents their livelihoods.

In addition to destroying mangrove forests, families were forced to abandon their homes.

Reflecting on the scale of pollution and the human costs, Mark Dummet, then director of Amnesty International’s global issue program, said: “It is incomprehensible to imagine that if these spills and this level of pollution occurred in North America or Europe that it would be allowed to happen.”

The natural resources that were supposed to help improve the welfare of the population have failed to meet expectations.

Worse still, they have produced enduring pollution and environmental stresses, which have become their main heritage.

Under the highly extroverted and sticky colonial development model of resource extraction, African natural resources have been a blessing for former colonial powers and a curse for source countries and the entire continent as a whole.

Democracy will remain fragile

Army Captain Ibrahim Traoré, the young leader of Burkina Faso who engineered his own military coup last year, has been vocal about the similarly incomprehensible position in which Africa finds itself from a development perspective.

Speaking at the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg on 27-28 July hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Traoré asked: “The question that my generation poses to itself, if I can summarise it, is how can Africa, with so many resources under our soil, with such a natural abundance of sun and water, still today remain the poorest continent?”

Unless we find the right answer to this development paradox and broaden the distributional gains from natural resource exploitation while minimising the negative externalities, democracy will remain fragile.

Waves of campaigners have cheered on troops in Niamey, Niger’s capital, and the first survey of citizens’ opinion of the coup, conducted by Premise Data, is very revealing: 78% of respondents support the military’s actions and 73% believe the coup leaders should stay in power for an extended period or until new elections are held.

When the homeland is dying under the relentless firepower of jihadist forces and a long heritage of environmental crimes, it is everyone’s fault; and this includes both the military and civilian population.

Hippolyte Fofack is Chief Economist and Director of Research at the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank).

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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A look inside the UN’s most mysterious body

Post By World Afghanistan, Border dispute, Coup in Niger, Taliban, united nations, United Nations General Assembly

The United Nations Credentials Committee is a solidly closed doors group – but their work is among some of the most important in the entire organisation.

If you haven’t heard of the United Nations Credentials Committee, you’re not alone.

Despite its rather innocuous sounding name, it’s actually one of the most important bodies in the entire organisation.

It has no official space to call its own in the UN’s New York City HQ and doesn’t even appear on the body’s own organisational chart of its many agencies, councils, committees and departments.

It could be considered the ugly sister of international diplomacy when all that is taken into account but, in fact, when it comes to countries riven by political divisions or coups, the body is the gatekeeper to the world’s stage at the UN General Assembly’s annual meeting.

For most universally recognised governments, credentialing is a mere formality.

But for leaders of factions and reasons with weak claims of ownership, the Committee is the only way towards legitimacy within divided nations.

Until recently, the workings of the Credentials Committee received little to no scrutiny from the worldwide press.

That all changed when the Taliban and Myanmar military junta sought entry but, nevertheless, it remains “an astonishingly opaque body” – according to Richard Gowan, UN director for the International Crisis Group.

What is the Committee – and how does it work?

The president of the General Assembly proposes the members for the nine-member body at the beginning of each year-long session.

Russia, China and the United States have occupied permanent committee seats since its 1947 inception, while the others rotate on a yearly basis.

The current seats are made up of representatives from Andorra, Grenada, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Suriname and Togo.

A handful of times a year, the Committee meets behind closed doors. At the end of each session, they issue recommendations in reports which shed virtually no light on what actually happened in the gathering, with many adding up to just three pages.

The General Assembly itself rarely discusses or debates the report before giving its approval.

“I think everyone finds the Credentials Committee a bit of a mystery. It is one of the least transparent UN bodies,” Richard Gowan tells the AP.

“To some extent, everyone sort of lives with this, because the fact that it isn’t transparent allows it to fudge certain decisions and kick hard decisions down the road,” Gowan adds.

Decisions on credentials are well known to be politically treacherous.

Rival authorities on occasion submit documents to try to credential their own would-be UN representatives – but the Committee’s criteria for recommending the UN grant or deny entry remain a matter of some conjecture.

At the top of the list is the thorny issue of effective control of territory.

According to an article in the American Society of International Law penned by Catherine Amirfar, a former president of the association, alongside two associates from her law firm Debevoise & Plimpton: “It is difficult to distill rules or principles on representation determinations from the Credentials Committee’s recommendations”.

“The Committee appears to apply a presumption of continuity from the prior session, while accounting for factors such as democratic legitimacy and commitment to human rights. Whatever factors the Committee might consider relevant, the nature of the criteria considered surely leave room for political considerations,” the lawyers added.

Although no country has diplomatically recognised the Taliban, it still manages to hold onto power throughout Afghanistan.

Myanmar’s junta likewise controls the country despite a less than tangible claim to leadership.

Yet both countries have gone unrepresented at the General Assembly in 2021 and 2022.

Last December, having once again received competing submissions from the two ruling bodies, the Credentials Committee issued a report – but put off making a decision on the leadership status of the two countries, leaving the Taliban and the junta still boxed out.

It also declined to issue a recommendation on dual requests from Libya.

That lack of choice means that the credentials remain in the hands of the internationally recognised administration seated in the country’s capital Tripoli, as opposed to with the rival government in the east.

Some countries are in the grip of a power struggle – but choose not to go to the UN for advice or decisions (or lack thereof).

On Thursday at the General Assembly, Sudan’s General Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who seized power in a 2021 coup, sidelined a broad-based pro-democracy movement and for the last five months has been battling an equally autocratic rival general for control of the African nation.

Interestingly, despite controlling much of the country’s territory – including the capital, Khartoum – the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have not submitted a request for UN credentials.

Issues with the process

For those that do decide to submit a request for credentials, there are occasional delays in getting a response from the Committee or the wider UN.

Following a coup in July, two competing credentials were submitted for Niger but, as yet, it’s been reported that the Credentials Committee has yet to schedule a meeting.

Before the coup, Bakary Yaou Sangaré had been Niger’s representative at the UN. Afterwards, the ruling junta made him their minister of foreign affairs and circulated his photos to journalists in the General Assembly hall on Monday, along with a statement proclaiming that he would “reaffirm the nation’s sovereignty”.

However, the UN also received a letter from the deposed government’s foreign minister “informing of the end of functions of Mr Bakary as Permanent Representative of Niger to the United Nations,” and Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General, told the AP on Thursday that Dujarric was no longer allowed onto the premises.

That didn’t go down well with Niger’s new military rulers.

“This team, led by the army, enjoys the unconditional support of the people and we’re going to demand that our government react,” Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists with their communications, told The AP.

Despite the non-transparent nature of the Committee, its recommendations can have other knock-on effects.

Catherine Amirfar’s article noted that the Credentials Committee’s reluctance to make a decision on Myanmar created confusion over who between a representative of the junta or of the prior government would represent the country at the International Court of Justice – a crucial body for every nation.

“The role of the Credentials Committee and the impact of its recommendations has grown substantially since UN member states first adopted the rules that govern its procedure. Far from its original ministerial function .. The Credentials Committee has emerged as a key player in critical questions of global governance,” the article laid out.

The question of whether or not recent events will change how opaque the Committee will be is an answer only known by those nine members.

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Niger’s future is in danger. World’s response is making it worse

Post By World Coup in Niger, ECOWAS, Humanitarian aid, Humanitarian crisis, Niger

We must remember that the impact of prolonged instability extends far beyond geopolitical concerns — it deeply affects the lives of real people, families, and communities, Paolo Cernuschi writes.

The recent coup in Niger, a West African country already grappling with prolonged poverty and instability, has threatened to exacerbate the challenges faced by vulnerable groups within the country.

As the Country Director of the International Rescue Committee in Niger, I am deeply concerned about the severe consequences of prolonged instability not only of the coup but of our collective response to it.

Niger was already one of the world’s poorest nations, struggling disproportionately with the effects of climate change and the destabilizing regional presence of armed groups.

Yet progress was being made: GDP growth last year was 7.2% and was projected to reach almost 12% next year.

Attacks on civilians by armed groups were consistently decreasing, to the point where concrete plans were in progress for the return of the 350,000 internally displaced persons to their homes.

This positive trend could now be reversed, and humanitarian needs could reach a level not before seen in Niger.

Widespread food insecurity is set to get even worse

In response to the coup in Niger on 26 July, the international community reacted with three main responses: regional organisation ECOWAS imposed harsh economic sanctions and border closures; the same organisation threatened military intervention to restore constitutional order; and donor countries suspended to varying degrees their aid to Niger.

All these decisions could have disastrous humanitarian impacts on the most economically vulnerable people my organisation serves.

Even before the current crisis, approximately 3.3 million people, constituting 13% of the population, were living in a state of food insecurity.

In the week following the announcement of the sanctions, the average price of rice increased by 17%. Local farmers and herders who rely on regional trade are seeing their livelihood opportunities dim.

Border closures further compound the crisis, preventing life-saving humanitarian supplies from reaching the communities that need them most.

While intended to maintain order and security, these closures hinder the flow of essential aid, creating a barrier that separates people from the assistance they require to survive.

Organisations cannot get critical supplies in. We have en route shipments of life-saving nutritional supplements for 2,300 children that we don’t know when we’ll receive. While we have contingency stocks in place, those will eventually run out.

Sanctions could also hamper other humanitarian efforts

If border closures and sanctions persist, aid supplies running out will be all but a certainty, and the capacity of humanitarian actors to continue delivering will be jeopardised.

By some estimates, supplies in the country at the time of the coup were sufficient for two to three months of humanitarian response. With supply chains requiring from a few weeks to a couple of months to replenish stocks, we are fast approaching the point where shortages will be inevitable.

Cash shortages occurred immediately after the sanctions were imposed, driven by the interruption of transactions within the regional monetary union and a run on banks.

The situation has moderately improved but strict withdrawal limits are still in place, complicating the work of implementers of cash-based programming.

Protracted cash shortages will make it difficult to continue doing so, threatening one of the most effective ways of delivering aid.

It is clear that these sanctions, while intended to influence political change and stand up for democracy and international norms, have unintended adverse impacts on the lives of ordinary citizens who are already struggling to meet their basic needs.

That is why, at the very least, humanitarian exemptions must be guaranteed to ensure continuity of humanitarian work in Niger.

The ‘do no harm’ approach must be prioritised

At the same time, the spectre of a catastrophic military intervention looms, with real fears of regional spillovers.

In Niamey, it is quietly discussed as a not-so-distant fear, as few want to really contemplate that scenario.

But its effects on the humanitarian situation in Niger and neighbouring countries would be disastrous, increasing human suffering and growing the humanitarian need beyond what could conceivably be supported.

For this reason, the international community and regional organisations must prioritise a “do no harm” approach in dealing with this situation.

Finally, aid suspension announced by several countries is worrying, particularly when it affects programs designed to provide basic services to communities.

When, for example, funding to NGO programs supporting the economic development of rural communities is suspended, it directly affects people who are already vulnerable and who have limited power to influence change in a capital city hundreds of kilometres away.

It undermines years of investments in strengthening community resilience in the face of shocks and crises. And in the longer term, it increases the need for emergency food assistance, putting further pressure on already stretched humanitarian funding.

We have to prioritise the well-being of all Nigeriens

Years of steady progress in local development and in countering extremism, and with it, hopes of creating a safe future and durable solutions for the people of the region, can backslide quickly if support for communities just stops.

Diplomatic efforts should focus on finding peaceful solutions that prioritise the well-being of all Nigerien citizens, regardless of their socio-economic status.

We must remember that the impact of prolonged instability extends far beyond geopolitical concerns; it deeply affects the lives of real people, families, and communities.

The situation in Niger calls for a coordinated and compassionate response that upholds the principles of humanitarianism and ensures that no one is left behind. And the Nigerien people deserve that and a whole lot more.

Paolo Cernuschi serves as Niger Country Director at the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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Niger junta vows transition to civilian rule within three years

Post By World Coup in Niger, diplomacy, ECOWAS

General Abdourahmane Tchiani gave no details on the plan, saying on state television only that the principles for the transition would be decided within 30 days at a dialogue to be hosted by the junta.

The leader of mutinous soldiers who ousted Niger’s democratically elected president said Saturday night that they will return the country to civilian rule within three years.

“I am convinced that … we will work together to find a way out of the crisis, in the interests of all,” Tchiani said, commenting after his first meeting with a regional delegation seeking to resolve the West African nation’s crisis.

The delegation from the ECOWAS bloc, headed by former Nigerian head of state General Abdulsalami Abubakar, also met separately with toppled President Mohamed Bazoum. It joined reconciliation efforts by Leonardo Santos Simao, the UN special representative for West Africa and the Sahel, who arrived Friday.

ECOWAS on August 10 ordered the deployment of a “standby force” to restore constitutional rule in Niger. On Friday, the ECOWAS commissioner for peace and security, Abdel-Fatau Musah, said 11 of its 15 member states had agreed to commit troops to military intervention, saying they were “ready to go.”

The soldiers who overthrew Bazoum last month have quickly entrenched themselves in power, rebuffed most dialogue efforts and kept Bazoum, his wife and son under house arrest in the capital.

The 11 member states that agreed to intervene militarily don’t include the bloc’s three other countries under military rule following coups: Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. The latter two have warned they would consider any intervention in Niger an act of war. On Friday, Niger’s state television said that Mali and Burkina Faso had dispatched warplanes in a show of solidarity.

Friday’s announcement was the latest in a series of so far empty threats by ECOWAS to forcefully restore democratic rule in Niger, conflict analysts say. Immediately after the coup, the bloc gave the junta seven days to release and restore Bazoum, a deadline that came and went with no action.

Junta cementing its rule

The junta leaders are cementing their rule and appointing loyal commanders to key units while ECOWAS has no experience with military action in hostile territory and would have no local support if it tried to intervene, he said.

“Niger is a very fragile country that can easily turn, in case of a military intervention, into a failed state like Sudan,” said Laessing.

ECOWAS used force to restore order in 2017 in Gambia when longtime President Yahya Jammeh refused to step down after he lost the presidential election. That move involved diplomatic efforts led by the then-presidents of Mauritania and Guinea, while Jammeh appeared to be acting on his own after the Gambian army pledged allegiance to the winner of the election, Adama Barrow.

Also on Saturday, the new US ambassador to Niger, Kathleen FitzGibbon, arrived in the capital, said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the State Department. The US hasn’t had an ambassador in the country for nearly two years.

FitzGibbon will focus on advocating for a diplomatic solution that preserves constitutional order in Niger and for the immediate release of Bazoum, his family, and all those unlawfully detained, said Miller. Her arrival does not reflect a change in the US policy position, he said.

Preparing to fight

On the streets of the capital Saturday, many residents said they were preparing to fight back against an ECOWAS military intervention.

Thousands of people in the capital of Niamey lined up outside the main stadium to register as fighters and volunteers to help with other needs in case the junta requires support. Some parents brought their children to sign up.

Some people said they’d been waiting since 3 a.m., while groups of youths boisterously chanted in favour of the junta and against ECOWAS and the country’s former colonial ruler France.

″I am here for the recruitment to become a good soldier. We are all here for that,” said Ismail Hassan, a resident waiting in line to register. “If God wills, we will all go.”

Events organizer Amsarou Bako claimed the junta was not involved in recruiting volunteers to defend the coup, although it is aware of the initiative. Hours after the drive started, the organizers said it would be postponed, but didn’t explain why.

The humanitarian situation in the country is also on the agenda of the UN’s West Africa and Sahel special representative.

Western partnerships

Before the coup, nearly 3 million people were facing severe food insecurity and hundreds of thousands were internally displaced, according to CARE, an international aid group. Economic and travel sanctions imposed by ECOWAS after the coup, coupled with the deteriorating security, will have dire consequences for the population, CARE said.

Prior to the coup, Western countries had seen Niger as one of the last democratic nations they could partner with to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group and poured millions of dollars of military aid and assistance into shoring up Niger’s forces.

Since the coup, former jihadis have told The Associated Press that militants have been taking advantage of the freedom of movement caused by suspended military operations by the French and the US and a distracted Nigerien army that is focusing efforts on the capital.

Last week, at least 17 soldiers were killed and 20 wounded in an ambush by militants. It was the first major attack against Niger’s army in six months. A day later, at least 50 civilians were killed in the Tillaberi region by extremists believed to be members of the Islamic State group, according to an internal security report for aid groups seen by the AP.

“While Niger’s leaders are consumed by politics in the capital, the drumbeat of lethal jihadist attacks goes on in the countryside,” said Corinne Dufka a political analyst who specializes in the Sahel region.

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ECOWAS delegation arrives in Niger for last-ditch diplomatic push

Post By World Coup in Niger, ECOWAS, Mohamed Bazoum

On Friday, the ECOWAS commissioner for peace and security, Abdel-Fatau Musah, said 11 of its 15 member states agreed to commit troops to a military deployment, saying they were “ready to go” whenever the order was given.

A delegation from regional nations arrived in Niger Saturday afternoon in a last-ditch diplomatic effort to reach a peaceful solution with mutinous soldiers who ousted the country’s president last month.

The representatives from the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS, came to the capital, Niamey, and joined efforts by United Nations Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simao, who arrived on Friday, in trying to facilitate a resolution to the ongoing crisis.

On Friday UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Simao would meet with the junta and other parties to try and facilitate a swift and peaceful resolution to Niger’s crisis.

“What we want to see is a return to the constitutional order. We want to see the liberation of the president and his family and restoration of his legitimate authority,” he said.

On August 10, ECOWAS ordered the deployment of a “standby force” to restore constitutional rule in the country.

The soldiers who overthrew Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum in July have quickly entrenched themselves in power, rebuffed most dialogue efforts and kept Bazoum, his wife and son under house arrest in the capital.

The 11 member states don’t include Niger itself and the bloc’s three other countries under military rule following coups: Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso. The latter two have warned they would consider any intervention in Niger an act of war. On Friday, Niger’s state television said that Mali and Burkina Faso had dispatched warplanes in a show of solidarity.

Fragile country

Friday’s announcement is the latest in a series of empty threats by ECOWAS to forcefully restore democratic rule in Niger, say conflict analysts.

Immediately after the coup, the bloc gave the junta seven days to release and restore Bazoum, a deadline that came and went with no action.

“The putschists won’t be holding their breath this time over the renewed threat of military action,” said Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a think tank. Meanwhile, the mutinous soldiers are cementing their rule and appointing loyal commanders to key units while ECOWAS has no experience with military action in hostile territory and would have no local support if it tried to intervene, he said.

“Niger is a very fragile country that can easily turn, in case of a military intervention, into a failed state like Sudan,” said Laessing.

ECOWAS used force to restore order in member countries in 2017 in Gambia when longtime President Yahya Jammeh refused to step down after he lost the presidential election. But even in that case, the move had involved diplomatic efforts led by the then-presidents of Mauritania and Guinea, while Jammeh appeared to be acting on his own after the Gambian army pledged allegiance to the winner of the election, Adama Barrow.

Also on Saturday, the new United States Ambassador to Niger, Kathleen FitzGibbon, arrived in the capital, said Matthew Miller, spokesman for the State Department. The US hasn’t had an ambassador in the country for nearly two years.

Preparing to fight back

On the streets of the capital Saturday, many residents said they’re preparing to fight back against an ECOWAS military intervention.

Thousands of people in Niamey lined up outside the main stadium to register as volunteers, fighters and to help with other needs in case the junta requires support. Some parents brought their children to sign up; others said they’d been waiting since 3 a.m., while groups of youths boisterously chanted in favour of the junta and against ECOWAS and the country’s former colonial ruler France.

“I am here for the recruitment to become a good soldier. We are all here for that,” said Ismail Hassan a resident waiting in line to register. “If God wills, we will all go.”

Events organizer Amsarou Bako claimed that the junta was not involved in finding volunteers to defend the coup, although it is aware of the initiative. Hours after the drive started, the organizers said it would be postponed, but didn’t explain why.

The humanitarian situation in the country is also on the agenda of the UN’s West Africa and Sahel special representative.

Partnership against extremism

Previously, Western countries saw Niger as one of the last democratic nations they could partner with to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group and poured millions of dollars of military aid and assistance into shoring up Niger’s forces.

Since the coup, former jihadis told The Associated Press that militants have been taking advantage of the freedom of movement caused by suspended military operations by the French and the US and a distracted Nigerien army that is focusing efforts on the capital.

Last week, at least 17 soldiers were killed and 20 injured during an ambush by jihadis. It was the first major attack against Niger’s army in six months. A day later, at least 50 civilians were killed in the Tillaberi region, by extremists believed to be members of the Islamic State group, according to an internal security report for aid groups seen by the AP.

“The recent attacks should motivate all parties to work for as speedy and inclusive a transition as possible so they can get back to the crucial business of protecting civilians from the devastating consequences of war. In due time, Nigeriens and their partners should look long and hard at why and how democracy in Niger faltered,” she said.

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Niger’s president vows democracy will prevail after coup declared

Post By World Coup, Coup in Niger, Niger

Niger’s president defiantly declared Thursday that democracy would prevail, a day after mutinous soldiers detained him and announced they had seized power in a coup over the West African country’s deteriorating security situation.

While many people in the capital of Niamey went about their usual business, it remained unclear who was in control of the country and which side the majority might support. A statement tweeted by the army command’s account declared that it would back the coup in order to avoid a “murderous confrontation” that could lead to a “bloodbath.” It was not possible to confirm that the statement was genuine.

Meanwhile, President Mohamed Bazoum – who was elected in 2021 in Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France and is a key ally of the West – appeared to have the backing of several political parties.

“The hard-won achievements will be safeguarded. All Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom will see to it,” Bazoum tweeted early Thursday morning.

Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou issued a similar call on news network France 24, asking “all Nigerien democratic patriots to stand up as one to say no to this factious action.”

He demanded the president’s unconditional release and said talks were ongoing.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who spoke to Bazoum by phone on Wednesday, said in a statement that he was “extremely worried” about the situation in Niger and warned of the “terrible effects on development” and civilians due to “successive unconstitutional changes of government in the Sahel region.”

The Economic Community of West African States regional grouping sent Benin President Patrice Talon to lead mediation efforts.

Bazoum is a key ally in the West’s efforts to battle jihadists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group in Africa’s Sahel region. Extremists in Niger have carried out attacks on civilians and military personnel, but the overall security situation is not as dire as in neighbouring nations.

The fight against extremism in the region has become a major arena in which the West and Russia have vied for influence.

Bazoum was seen by many as the West’s last hope for partnership in the Sahel after Mali turned away from former colonial power France and instead sought support from the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Wagner appears to be making inroads in Burkina Faso as well.

Western countries have poured aid into Niger, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited in March, seeking to strengthen ties. American, French and Italian troops train the country’s soldiers, while France also conducts joint operations.

But the threat to Bazoum has raised concerns that Niger could also turn away from the West.

On Thursday, several hundred people gathered in the capital and chanted support for Wagner while waving Russian flags. Later, they began throwing rocks at a passing politician’s car.

“If Mohamed Bazoum resigns from the presidency, Niger will probably move to the top of the list of countries where the Wagner Group will seek to expand,” said Flavien Baumgartner, an Africa analyst at Dragonfly, a security and political risk consultancy.

Wagner already had its sights set on Niger, in part because it’s a large producer of uranium sought after by Russia. But Bazoum posed an impediment because of his pro-French and pro-Western stance, said Baumgartner.

Wagner’s head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, weighed in on Thursday, describing the developments as part of Niger’s fight against the “colonisers.”

“It effectively means winning independence. The rest will depend on the people of Niger, on how efficient they could govern,” Prigozhin, who led a brief mutiny against the Kremlin last month, said in a statement.

Underscoring the importance of Niger to the West, Blinken said Thursday that he had spoken with the president, saying that he “made clear that we strongly support him as the democratically elected president of the country.”

Blinken, who was in New Zealand, repeated the US condemnation of the mutiny and said his team was in close contact with officials in France and Africa.

On Wednesday morning, members of the presidential guard surrounded Bazoum’s house and detained him.

The mutinous soldiers, who call themselves the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, took to state television and announced they had seized control because of deteriorating security and poor economic and social governance in the nation of 25 million people. They said they had dissolved the constitution, suspended all institutions, and closed all the borders.

The coup was reportedly sparked because Bazoum was allegedly planning to fire the head of the presidential guard, Gen. Omar Tchiani, Niger analysts say. Military experts say some of the people who appeared on state television were high-ranking officers, including Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the head of Niger’s special forces who has a strong relationship with the United States.

According to someone close to the president who spoke on condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized to speak about the situation, the president has not and will not resign and is safe in his residence.

In a statement Wednesday, several political parties expressed their support for him, calling the coup “suicidal and anti-republican madness.”

The “country, faced with insecurity, terrorism and the challenges of underdevelopment, cannot afford to be distracted,” they said. Protesters also came out in support of Bazoum that day.

The international community strongly condemned the attempted takeover in Niger, which has experienced multiple coups since independence in 1960.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna tweeted that France is concerned about the events in Niger and following the situation closely. France “firmly condemns any attempt to take power by force,” the minister said.

UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk called for Bazoum’s release and said “all efforts must be undertaken to restore constitutional order and the rule of law.”

Russia also called for the president’s release and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the country wants to see “a speedy resolution of this internal political crisis.”

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Tag: Coup in Niger