A Sunday deadline by Niger’s West African neighbors to intervene militarily if the recent army-led coup was not reversed appeared to pass without action even though the country’s democratically elected president remains a prisoner of his generals in Niamey.
The ECOWAS group of regional states was still discussing its options, but the military threat lost much of its force when lawmakers from regional power Nigeria, the bloc’s current chair, came out over the weekend urging more diplomacy and exploring other options besides the use of force.
Gen. Tchiani has declared himself head of state and refused on Friday even to meet with an ECOWAS delegation that traveled to Niamey to discuss the crisis. The Biden administration has also strongly backed Mr. Bazoum after he took office in a rare peaceful, democratic transfer of power two years ago. “We do not think that meddling into Niger’s affairs now can help out in any way. On the contrary, it may be counterproductive,” he said.
With an open invitation from the coup plotters and their regional allies, the entire central Sahel region could fall to Russian influence via the Wagner Group, whose brutal terrorism has been on full display in Ukraine,” he warned. France has organized a major evacuation mission for European nationals inside Niger, and the State Department said last week it had chartered a plane to evacuate non-essential personnel and American citizens who wanted to leave the country.
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