The commander of the presidential guard in Niger claimed the management of the West African nation with a televised handle on Friday, two days after his navy unit detained the democratically elected president and threw into uncertainty the way forward for a key Western ally within the area.
“We have decided to intervene and seize our responsibilities,” Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who goes by the primary identify Omar, stated on state tv, the place he was recognized onscreen because the president of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country. “We can’t continue with the same approaches.”
Niger, a poor nation wealthy in uranium, lies within the Sahel, the arid area south of the Sahara that has confronted rising insecurity amid the worsening results of local weather change, political instability and armed insurgencies. The United States has 1,100 troops and two drone bases in Niger, and France, the previous colonial energy, greater than 1,500 troops.
The navy takeover in Niger is the sixth in West Africa in lower than three years, following within the steps of Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali, and threatening to upend efforts within the area to struggle Islamist insurgencies by teams affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
An aide to Mr. Bazoum and analysts stated in interviews within the final two days that the president had been planning to take away General Tchiani as chief of the presidential guard.
General Tchiani, nevertheless, stated his troopers had unseated President Mohamed Bazoum due to poor administration of the financial system and the struggle in opposition to the militants.
While saying that he appreciated the “support of our external partners” — an obvious reference to the United States and European international locations — he additionally faulted Niger’s management for not partnering with the navy juntas in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, which have moved near Russia lately.
“The current security approach hasn’t enabled us to secure our country,” he stated.
He didn’t say something about Mr. Bazoum, whose destiny remained unclear on Friday morning. A Western navy official, talking on situation of anonymity, stated members of the presidential guard had been nonetheless detaining the president along with his household.
Niger, a rustic of 26 million and the world’s third poorest, in response to the United Nations, has additionally been a popular recipient of humanitarian help and Western funding as one of many final democracies run by a civilian president within the area.
The future of those efforts now seems to be unsure.
Hours earlier than General Tchiani’s tv handle on Friday, the streets of Niamey, the capital, remained calm, with banks closed however many companies open. The generals supporting the coup had closed the nation’s borders and ordered the suspension of political actions. A nighttime curfew remained in place.
The United States, the United Nations and the West African financial bloc, generally known as ECOWAS, have all condemned the navy takeover. Secretary of State Anthony J. Blinken, who spoke with Mr. Bazoum on Thursday, known as for his instant launch.
France stated in a press release issued by its overseas ministry on Friday afternoon that it didn’t acknowledge the transitional authorities led by General Tchiani.
In Niamey on Thursday, lots of of protesters had gathered in assist of the navy. Some shouted “Bazoum has fallen, we’re free,” in Zarma, one of many languages spoken in Niger. Others waved Russian flags in a scene harking back to earlier coups in Burkina Faso and Mali, two international locations General Tchiani vowed to work extra carefully with.
Military officers in Mali have partnered with Russia’s Wagner mercenary firm to struggle Islamist insurgents. The prime minister of Burkina Faso traveled to Moscow a number of months after a navy junta seized energy there.
A shift in alliances may have main implications for Western international locations and worldwide our bodies. The United Nations has deliberate to make use of Niger as a logistical hub for the withdrawal of its 13,000-personnel peacekeeping operation in neighboring Mali, which is scheduled to depart on the finish of the yr. France will depend on Niger’s uranium mines for about 15 p.c of the assets wanted to gasoline its nuclear energy crops.
Some of the pro-military protesters on Thursday set off to the headquarters of Mr. Bazoum’s political social gathering the place they broke dozens of automobiles, stole fridges, tables and different items contained in the social gathering’s constructing, earlier than setting it on hearth.
Omar Hama Saley contributed reporting from Niamey, Niger.
Source: www.nytimes.com