Coup in Niger, earthquake with unforeseeable consequences in the Sahel. After the recent collapse of Mali, hit by two coups in 2020 and 2021, and Burkina Faso, which lived through military riots last year, the instability spread to neighboring Niger on Wednesday night. A group of soldiers, gathered in a platform calling itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland (CLSP), appeared on national television last night, hours after Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum was detained at his palace in Niamey. .
Although it remains to be seen if the uprising is successful – the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, conveyed to Bazoum his “unwavering support” – the geopolitical importance of what happened is not peripheral, it is central: Niger the last stable and close bastion France and the United States in a region besieged for a decade by jihadist violence (both the Islamic State and Al Qaeda are present on its territory) and the growing presence of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group.
Niger is also key to Spain and southern Europe: some of the main migratory routes to Europe pass through its territory and the government of Niamey had collaborated firmly until now to try to stop the migratory flow. From Paris, whose soldiers have been expelled from Mali and Burkina Faso in the last year, yesterday they followed with concern events that put the fragile balance of Western forces in the area in check.
After the new governments of Bamako and Ouagadougou turned their backs on the former metropolis, straddling a widespread anti-French sentiment among the population, France had deployed the bulk of its anti-jihadist fighting device in Niger. Washington also has a strong military presence in the country, with an American drone base in northern Nigeria. The military coup followed the usual steps of military uprisings in West Africa.
Hours after soldiers from the Presidential Guard, the elite unit in charge of the head of state’s security, detained President Bazoum and his wife at their residence in the capital, Niamey, the confirmation came in a statement read on television. national. Around midnight on Wednesday, a dozen soldiers appeared on the screen to announce the suspension of the constitution, the closure of the borders and the imposition of a curfew.
Major Colonel Amadou Abdramane became spokesman. “We, the defense and security forces, have decided to put an end to the regime you know (…) It is the consequence of the continued deterioration of the security situation and poor economic and social management.” Although he did not appear in the image with the other rebel soldiers, it is believed that the leader of the mutiny is General Omar Tchiani, head of the Presidential Guard, and whose confrontation with the president had escalated in recent weeks.
In an attempt to resist the onslaught, Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudu proclaimed himself head of state and called on all democrats “to make this adventure fail.” Various army units, still loyal to the government, were deployed to various strategic points in the country. Bazoum, for his part, remarked that the democratic conquests will be “safeguarded.” “All Nigeriens attached to democracy and freedom will ensure this,” the president said on Twitter this Thursday morning.
The international community is also pushing for the failure of a coup that would leave the region at the mercy of Russian influence, which has been able to take advantage of regional instability and fuel hatred of France, often through propaganda arts. Both the African Union, the Economic Commission for West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Secretary General condemned the coup in Niger, called for a return to constitutional order and called for the release of President Bazoum, 63, who he is facing his second coup since the start of his term in 2021.
“The situation is serious enough that (…) we do not take it lightly and act quickly,” said Benin’s President Patrice Talon, who heads the ECOWAS delegation sent to the country as a mediator. “All necessary means will be used to restore constitutional order in Niger, but ideally everything would happen in peace and harmony,” said the current president of the regional bloc and Nigerian head of state, Bola Tinubu, without giving more details.
Dozens of people took to the streets of Niamey, the capital, to protest against what yesterday was still defined as a coup attempt. Shots, believed to have been directed into the air, were fired by security forces to break up the demonstration that had gathered around the presidential palace in support of Bazoum.
Despite Russia’s interests in Africa (it has also become strong in the Central African Republic, Madagascar or Libya), the anti-French malaise of Malians, Burkinabe and Nigerien stems from decades of a relationship seen as unfair and unequal by the population. The region has been plagued by instability since the fall of Libyan dictator Muhammar Gaddafi in 2011 after falling out of favor with the West, as several well-trained and armed groups of the Libyan satrap’s mercenaries returned to the desert after the disintegration from Libya.
Since then, there have been coups and a spiral of jihadist violence unleashed. According to the Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel suffered 43% of all terrorist fatalities on the planet. With 1,135 murders, Burkina Faso was the country with the highest number of victims in the world in 2022.
Niger, which has one of the largest uranium reserves in the world, is considered one of the poorest countries on the planet. Ten of its 25.3 million inhabitants live below the poverty line.
