Western safety issues over Niger grew Thursday as hundreds of individuals rallied within the capital Niamey in assist of the coup that toppled the democratically elected authorities.
The demonstrators, some brandishing large Russian flags, chanted anti-French slogans on the rally referred to as to mark the anniversary of the West African nation’s 1960 independence from France.
Issiaka Hamadou, one of many protesters, stated that it was “only security that interests us,” regardless of whether or not it got here from “Russia, China, Türkiye, if they want to help us.”
“We just don’t want the French, who have been looting us since 1960 – they’ve been there ever since and nothing has changed,” he stated.
The crowd on the rally round him was shouting “Down with France,” “Long live Russia, long live (Vladimir) Putin.”
Every week after the toppling of elected President Mohamed Bazoum, European residents have been evacuating from Niger, which has had a key position in French and Western methods to fight a terrorist insurgency that has rampaged throughout the Sahel since 2012.
And the clock is ticking down on Sunday’s demand from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS for the coup leaders to revive Bazoum to energy inside per week or face the doable “last resort” of army intervention.
Bazoum has been held by the coup plotters since July 26, prompting U.S. President Joe Biden to name for his instant launch Thursday, urging the “preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy.”
Britain and the United States have introduced the pulling again of embassy personnel in Niger as a precaution.
Paris – which stated Thursday it had accomplished its evacuation flights – urged the junta led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani to “fully guarantee” the security of embassies in Niamey forward of Thursday’s protests.
Sanctions
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders have imposed commerce and monetary sanctions, with Nigeria slicing off the electrical energy provides that account for some 70% of Niger’s grid.
West African army chiefs have been assembly in Nigeria’s capital Abuja on Thursday to debate the potential of army intervention if diplomatic negotiations fail.
An official from the Nigerian Defense Ministry advised AFP the conferences have been set to finish Friday.
As tensions rise throughout the area, an ECOWAS staff headed by former Nigerian chief Abdulsalami Abubakar was additionally in Niger for talks.
West Africa’s pre-eminent army and financial energy Nigeria, the present chair of ECOWAS, has vowed a agency line in opposition to coups which have proliferated throughout the area since 2020.
Junta-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso have warned any army intervention of their neighbor can be tantamount to a “declaration of war” in opposition to them.
Anti-French sentiment within the area has solely continued to rise, usually whipped up by Russia which during the last years has taken an more and more outstanding presence through the Wagner mercenary group.
A French diplomatic supply stated there was “no evidence that Russia played a role in the coup” in Niger, however that it had an “opportunistic attitude” which meant it may search to capitalize on occasions.
Publicly, Russia has referred to as for “urgent national dialogue” in Niger and warned threats of intervention “will not help ease tensions.”
Terrorist insurgency
Bazoum, 63, was feted in 2021 after profitable elections that ushered in Niger’s first-ever peaceable transition of energy.
He took the helm of a rustic burdened by 4 earlier coups since independence from France in 1960.
But after surviving two tried putsches, Bazoum was overthrown on July 26 when members of his personal guard detained him on the presidency.
Their commander, Tiani, has declared himself chief, however his declare has been condemned internationally.
France introduced evacuation flights after hostile demonstrations have been held on the weekend outdoors its embassy in Niamey.
But in a televised handle Wednesday, Tiani stated French nationals had nothing to concern, insisting they’d by no means been topic “to the least threat.”
He rejected the worldwide sanctions imposed in response to the coup, saying he “refused to give in to any threat.”
France nonetheless has round 1,500 troops in Niger, the place it refocused its anti-terrorist mission after pulling out of Mali and Burkina Faso final yr.
After becoming a member of a regional revolt in northern Mali, armed terrorists superior into Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015 and now perform sporadic assaults on fragile states on the Gulf of Guinea.
Countless civilians, troops and police have been killed throughout the area, whereas round 2.2 million individuals in Burkina Faso alone have fled their properties.
The impression has contributed to military takeovers in all three Sahel nations and inflicted devastating injury to economies on the very backside of the world’s wealth desk.
France’s anti-terrorist Burkina Faso mission had at its peak about 5,400 troops, supported by fighter jets, helicopters and drones.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
