Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, who is now being held captive by his former security detail, is a rare democratically elected leader who was inaugurated in 2021 in the country’s first peaceful transfer of power. His nation is the recipient of $2 billion in U.S. and other Western aid annually. And more than 1,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Niger, where they train the Nigerien military to battle jihadist terrorist groups active in the area.
The Biden administration and European Union rushed to condemn the coup and have lamented the potential loss of their last reliable West African ally as international pressure continued to mount. Losing Niger could be seen as a victory for Russia, experts say.
Striking a harsh tone like the West, the Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, handed military coup leaders in Niger — led by presidential guard Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who has declared himself head of state — a Sunday deadline to stand down and reinstate Bazoum to office. Though ECOWAS is attempting to broker negotiations, it has said it will use military force if Tchiani does not comply, threatening a wider conflict that would further devastate an impoverished region marred by violence.
Wagner, of course, poses no threat to Niger, to the Sahel, or to Africa. We only see Wagner appearing in places where the Neocons and the Globalists of the US/EU/NATO axis have sewn chaos and destruction. Case in point.