Niger’s presidential guard chief General Abdourahamane Tiani named himself as the country’s new leader, two days after his forces detained President Mohamed Bazoum.
(Bloomberg) — Niger’s presidential guard chief General Abdourahamane Tiani named himself as the country’s new leader, two days after his forces detained President Mohamed Bazoum.
Bazoum hasn’t resigned and African and Western powers have condemned the coup. But if it is ultimately successful it will create a belt of military-run countries that runs from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and most are friendlier to Russia than they are to the West.
Former President Mahamadou Issoufou appointed Tiani to head the presidential guard when he came to power in 2011. In 2021, Tiani’s forces repelled a coup attempt when a military unit tried to seize the presidential palace 48 hours before Bazoum, who had just won presidential elections, was set be sworn in.
In a statement on state broadcaster Tele Sahel, Tiani decried widespread corruption, poor governance and the management of Niger’s security. Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked groups have spread across the western Sahel, killing thousands in Niger over the past decade.
“The current security approach has not made it possible to secure our country, despite the heavy sacrifices made by Nigeriens and the appreciated support from our external partners,” Tiani said.
Niger, one of the world’s biggest uranium producers and a key ally of the West in the fight against jihadism in the Sahel, hosts both French and US military bases. But even after more than a decade of Western military involvement in the Sahel, extremists occupy more territory and kill more people today than they did when France first intervened in northern Mali in 2012.
“We need to ask ourselves whether the current handling of the security issue in Niger has made it possible to guarantee our safety, that of our families, our villages and our country, and whether we can continue like this, with the same approach, the same actors and the same results,” Tiani said. “I ask the technical and financial partners, friends of Niger, to understand the specific situation of our country to provide it with all the necessary support.”
Niger would continue to respect its international partnerships, he added. In a separate statement, junta spokesman Colonel Amadou Abdramane warned against any attempt by foreign forces to intervene.
The Economic Community for West African States will host a special meeting of leaders from the 15-nation regional bloc in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, on Sunday, to discuss the crisis, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s office said in a statement.
Tinubu condemned the coup “and promised that ECOWAS and the international community would do everything to defend democracy and ensure democratic governance continues to take firm root in the sub-region,” it said. “US Vice President Kamala Harris and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in separate telephone calls Thursday evening with President Tinubu, affirmed the support of the US and UN for the position taken by ECOWAS and the Nigerian leader to restore constitutional order.”
US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Thursday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Bazoum the day before and “underscored that the strong US economic and security partnership with Niger depends on the continuation of democratic governance and respect of the rule of law and human rights.”
No Recognition
The French government on Friday said in a statement that it doesn’t recognize the authorities led by Tiani.
“Any breach of the constitutional order will have consequences for cooperation between the EU and Niger, including the immediate suspension of all budget support,” Josep Borrell, the European Union’s head of foreign affairs, said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Military juntas have taken over neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali over the past two years, and both countries have broken relations with ex-colonial power France — which had led the fight against terrorism in the region — and built closer ties with Russia.
The Kremlin-linked Wagner Group has deployed to Mali, which recently asked the 13,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force that has been in the country for a decade to leave by December.
Security Threat
The security situations in both Mali and Burkina Faso have deteriorated since coups in those countries. Niger’s putsch risks a similar outcome, Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel programme for Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung think tank said by phone from Bamako.
“The army will be busy trying to stay in power and won’t have time to focus on security matters,” he said.
Further Western cooperation is also at risk, Ibrahim Yahaya, senior Sahel analyst at the International Crisis Group, said in emailed comments.
“The coup in Niger has dashed the hopes of collaboration between Sahelian countries and Western powers with the country that has so far shown a degree of resilience to both insecurity and political instability,” he said.
–With assistance from Courtney McBride and Samy Adghirni.
(Updates with comment, context throughout)
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