Following the expiration of their initial military action threat against the country, the African Union (AU) and ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) have offered to hold new talks, but Niger’s new military government has rejected their offer.
The US military insists on maintaining its forces in Niger out of concern for potential intervention.
The African Union had planned to send a joint mission to Niger on Tuesday, along with UN and ECOWAS representatives, in an effort to reinstate the country’s deposed West-sponsored President Mohamed Bazoum.
However, the new leader of the country refused to allow the mission to go and shut down Niger’s airspace in defiance of US-led pressure to negotiate “reversing” the coup.
While this is going on, leaders of ECOWAS and the AU are reportedly getting ready for a summit on Thursday to discuss the “possibility of military intervention” with the leaders of the Niger coup, who disobeyed a Sunday deadline to restore overthrown Bazoum, a steadfast ally of the West, or face military action, according to reports from AFP and other major Western news agencies.
The bloc, which had previously threatened to take military action against Niamey and is led by Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu, has been quoted as stressing that diplomacy is still the “best way forward” to end the Niger crisis.
Read more: Niger junta rejects diplomatic outreach from US, UN, AU, ECOWAS
The ECOWAS had issued a seven-day ultimatum to the officers who had taken control of Niamey on July 26 to restore Bazoum or face the threat of using force, but the coup leaders disregarded the warning.
As quoted by Al Jazeera, Tinubu and other West African leaders “would prefer a resolution that was obtained through diplomatic means, through peaceful means, rather than any other.”
“That will be a position that is maintained moving forward, pending any other resolution that may or may not result from the ECOWAS extraordinary summit holding on Thursday,” Ngelale added.
The Nigerian president “has been unequivocal in his position that diplomacy is the best way forward,” the speaker continued, and “is representing the consensus position of the ECOWAS heads of state.”
The Nigerian president’s spokesman, however, emphasized that “military intervention has not, and will not, be taken off the table.”
The new military leaders in Niger have already refused to meet with a senior US diplomat who paid a covert visit to the country this week and with another ECOWAS delegation that also tried to negotiate with them.
Despite traveling to Niamey on Monday, US Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland was not given permission to meet with either the detained Bazoum or the coup leader Abdourahamane Tchiani.
According to reports, she advised Niger’s new leaders against enlisting the assistance of the Russian military and hinted at possible US military action if Bazoum was not put back in charge.
On the other hand, Tchiani met on Monday with a joint delegation from Mali and Burkina Faso, two close neighbors where the military has also overthrown democratically elected governments. Support for the coup in Niger has been pledged by the two military governments.
“We won’t consent to military intervention in Niger. The military government of Mali’s spokesperson, Abdoulaye Maiga, stated this on state television in Niger. “Our survival depends on it.
The US-led Western allies worry that Mali, which invited Russian forces into the impoverished country after a military government took control there in 2021, followed Mali’s example by expelling French troops and UN peacekeepers.
The fact that Niger is the seventh-largest producer of uranium, the most popular nuclear energy fuel, increases the strategic significance of the country.
In an effort to exert pressure on the coup leaders to restore the former president to power, the West African bloc has imposed sanctions on Niger and its Western allies have also suspended aid to the nation.
Despite being ignored, the Pentagon keeps US troops in Niger.
The US Defense Department has insisted that American troops will stay in Niger as a sign of their “commitment” to the nation and the region, and this development coincides with their insistence.
During a briefing on Tuesday, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh stated, “We’re going to continue to engage from a military standpoint.” “I believe that by maintaining our current force posture, we are demonstrating our commitment to the area and to Niger.”
It has collaborated with the U.S. The first democratically elected and seated president in decades was overthrown by the country’s military last month, throwing the region’s efforts against terror groups in the region—including the location of an American drone base—into disarray.
According to Singh, there will likely be a diplomatic resolution to the attempted coup in Niger. Singh was obviously alluding to ongoing US military efforts to intervene in Niger’s crisis and restore Bazoum to power.
Niger is, of course, an important ally within the region when it comes to counterterrorism and other operations, Singh continued, adding that Washington does not want to “abandon Nigeriens that we’ve partnered with that we’ve trained with over many years.”
Additionally, Singh emphasized that the safety of American citizens and service members is a key precondition for the US military’s presence in the nation.
She continued, without elaborating on how the US military intended to handle such risks, “If their lives are at risk, of course, we’re going to make that change and, of course, we will address that.”
Wagner chief mocks the US for Nuland’s comments about Niger.
While Nuland was in Niger on a covert mission to put pressure on the nation’s new leaders to undo the coup and reinstate the country’s ousted president, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group in Russia, mocked Washington after Nuland’s comments about the military contractor.
According to Russian media outlets, Prigozhin claimed in a message posted to the social media site Telegram that “the US is trying to keep the Wagner group out of Niger.”
“For this, ‘heavy artillery’ is being brought in. Victoria Nuland, the acting deputy secretary of state, is in a nation that overthrew colonialism while flying the Russian flag.”
“I got the sense in my meetings today that the people who have taken this action here understand very well the risks to their sovereignty when Wagner is invited in,” Nuland warned the coup leaders of Niger after being refused a meeting with them.
Prigozhin praised Wagner’s fighters and specifically cited Nuland’s statement about the “risks to their sovereignty” in relation to Wagner.
Further making fun of the US, he said, “The US has recognized a government that it did not recognize yesterday just to avoid meeting the Wagner PMC [Private Military Company] in the country.”
In response to Prigozhin’s mocking comments, the US-based Newsweek magazine cited a US State Department as saying: “We’ve seen the Kremlin-backed Wagner transnational criminal group exploit and amplify instability around the world, including in Africa.”
He acknowledged, “We have no indication to date that the Wagner Group was behind the actions of these members of the Nigerien Presidential guard, but Yevgeny Prigozhin has publicly praised this action and other attempted overthrows.”
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