The allies of the ousted president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, do not lose hope that he will be restored to power. Without expressly citing the coup leaders, Joe Biden yesterday demanded the immediate release of Bazoum and his family, and “the preservation of Niger’s hard-won democracy,” according to a statement issued in Washington.
The official statement by the President of the United States came on the occasion of the national holiday in Niger, which gained independence from France on a day like yesterday 63 years ago. Biden recalled that the Sahelian country “faces a serious challenge to its democracy” and that Washington supports a return to “a government run by civilians.” “The Nigerien people have the right to choose their leaders,” Biden added. They expressed their will through free and fair elections, and that must be respected.”
Pressure from the United States and many other countries, including some of Niger’s powerful neighbours, did not deter thousands of supporters of the military junta from demonstrating peacefully in Niamey in what has become a ritual in this region of Africa where coups have been successful. of State: shouts and banners against France, flags and slogans in favor of Russia. Those gathered expressed their protest against the sanctions decreed against Niger, especially those of the Economic Community of West African States (Cedeao), an organization that has also threatened armed intervention. Just yesterday, Senegal’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Aïssata Tall Sall, said that her country will get involved with soldiers if ECOWAS decides on a military operation to return Bazoum to her post.
On Wednesday night, the coup leader and self-proclaimed head of state, General Abdourahamane Tiani, former head of Bazoum’s presidential guard, again rejected sanctions and foreign interference. In a tone between solemn and bombastic, the Nigerian strongman evoked the possibility that if the ECOWAS threat materialized, Niger would throw itself “into the great final battle that we will fight together for the true independence of our nation.” Tiani considered the mass evacuation of foreign citizens unnecessary and disproportionate because their security was never in danger or threatened.
Neither France nor other countries trusted, however, the fate of their nationals in Niger, which is why their repatriation was quickly organized before the situation worsened. In total, 1,079 people were evacuated in the five organized military flights from Paris. Slightly more than half were French; the rest, of many other nationalities, also Spanish.
The events of the last few days are generating an avalanche of analysis and commentary in France whose common denominator is the feeling that French policy in the Sahel has reached a point of no return, that the failure of the strategy of the last ten years is palpable. Even in the event that Bazoum returns to power, Paris would have to rethink what he does and the withdrawal of his troops from the country would be advisable due to the lack of guarantees.
This is an outcome that has only half surprised those who closely follow the reality of the Sahel. But the images of civilians queuing at the airport to board military planes bound for Paris have contributed to giving an image of a certain humiliation, of rout. The next step, not yet confirmed, will be the withdrawal of the 1,500 soldiers still present.
France will still have other bases in Africa, in Chad, Djibouti, Senegal, the Ivory Coast and Gabon, but, for geographical and logistical reasons, the loss of Niger – after the abandoned bases in Mali and Burkina Faso – will be the last straw. for the French anti-jihadist effort in the Sahel, a severe setback with unforeseeable consequences.
