The Economic Community of West African States sent Benin President Patrice Talon to lead mediation efforts.
Russia and the West have been vying for influence in the fight against extremism in the region. Extremists in Niger have carried out attacks on civilians and military personnel,but the overall security situation is not as dire as in neighbouring nations.
Bazoum is seen by many as the West’s last hope for partnership in the Sahel after Mali turned away from former colonial power France and sought support from the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Wagner appears to be making inroads in Burkina Faso as well.
The US is “gravely concerned” about the situation in Niger,said State Department spokesman Vedant Patel during a briefing with reporters Thursday.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and continue to be in close touch with the embassy,” Patel said.
Western countries have poured aid into Niger,and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited in March,seeking to strengthen ties. American,French and Italian troops train the country’s soldiers,while France also conducts joint operations.
But the threat to Bazoum has raised concerns that Niger could also turn away from the West.
On Thursday,several hundred people gathered in the capital and chanted support for Wagner while waving Russian flags. Later,they began throwing rocks at a passing politician’s car.
“If Mohamed Bazoum resigns from the presidency,Niger will probably move to the top of the list of countries where the Wagner Group will seek to expand,” said Flavien Baumgartner,an Africa analyst at Dragonfly,a security and political risk consultancy.
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Wagner already had its sights set on Niger,in part because it’s a large producer of uranium. But Bazoum posed an impediment because of his pro-French and pro-Western stance,said Baumgartner.
Wagner’s head,Yevgeny Prigozhin,weighed in on Thursday,describing the developments as part of Niger’s fight against the “colonisers”.
“It effectively means winning independence. The rest will depend on the people of Niger,on how efficient they could govern,” Prigozhin,who led a brief mutiny against the Kremlin last month,said in a statement.
The US State Department isn’t aware of any signs that the Wagner Group was involved in the coup,Patel said. He declined to speculate,saying the “situation continues to be quite fluid”.
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Russia’s eagerness to deepen ties with Africa was visible in St Petersburg,where Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at the opening session of a two-day Russia-Africa summit attended by a sharply lower number of African heads of state and government compared with a previous summit in 2019.
While discussing the halted Black Sea grain deal,he promised large no-cost shipments of grain to six African countries.
Russia intends to ship up to 50,000 tons of grain aid to Burkina Faso,Zimbabwe,Mali,Somalia,Eritrea and the Central African Republic in the next three to four months,Putin said.
Former Wagner mercenary Marat Gabidullin told the AP that if Niger’s new rulers wanted the group’s help,they’d do the same job as in the Central African Republic,where it’s been operating for five years. Advocacy groups have accused Wagner of hijacking state resources and committing human rights atrocities in the Central African Republic and other countries where it operates.
Underscoring the importance of Niger to the West,Blinken said he had spoken with the president,saying that he “made clear that we strongly support him as the democratically elected president of the country”.
Blinken,who was in New Zealand,repeated the US condemnation of the mutiny and said his team was in close contact with officials in France and Africa.
If designated a coup by the United States,Niger could lose millions of dollars of military support and aid.
Alexander Thurston,assistant professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati,said the coup deals a blow to democratic culture in the Sahel.
“Western governments are left without a strong partner in the region,and may shift even more towards attempting to contain the region’s problems,rather than helping to solve them,” Thurston said.
Members of the presidential guard surrounded Bazoum’s house and detained him on Wednesday morning.
The mutinous soldiers,who call themselves the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country,took to state television and announced they had seized control because of deteriorating security and poor economic and social governance in the nation of 25 million people. They said they had dissolved the constitution,suspended all institutions and closed all the borders.
AP