Events in Niger move explosively as ultimatum expires on 5 August ECOWAS (West African Economic and Monetary Union).
The appearance of the Wagnerites led to the fact that the country’s de facto head of government responded to France, which declared that it would not withdraw troops, issuing a decree: “You have 30 days to leave the country.”
According to the Associated Press, one of the coup leaders, General Salifu Modi, visited the neighboring state of Mali, where the Wagnerites are based, and spoke with the commander, requesting military assistance in the event of an invasion by military forces from the ECOWAS countries. The information was confirmed by three Malian sources and a French diplomat on condition of anonymity. It is not yet known what the “Wagnerites” answered.
https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/168792478688501350 Already now, strong cracks have appeared in the bloc of African states (many consider them a cover for France and the United States): the Senate of Nigeria did not authorize the president of the country to intervene militarily (despite his statements), while while the head of the junta, Tiani, enlisted the support of the military regimes of Mali and Burkina Faso, Chad said that he would not interfere in the affairs of Niger, and Algeria that he would not.
A supporter of the putschists in the cap of the colors of the Russian flag in the capital of Niger, Niamey
🇳🇪🇹🇩 Chad will not intervene in a coup in neighbouring Niger, the country's defence minister Daoud Yaya Brahim has said. pic.twitter.com/60YnYWvxPB
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinklle) August 6, 2023
Chad will not interfere in a coup in neighboring Niger, Defense Minister Daoud Yaya Brahim said.
https://twitter.com/WanjikuHSC/status/1688013054741479424
Nigerian Senate vote overturning presidential statements of military intervention.
The possibility of foreign military intervention in Niger is “a direct threat to Algeria. We categorically reject any military intervention,” Algerian President Abdelmajid Tabun said in an interview with the Ennahar television network late on Saturday.
Tabun insisted that “without us there will be no solution” [т.е. без Алжира]because the “we are the main stakeholders”, thereby limiting the activities of ECOWAS.
“Algiers has a thousand-kilometer border” with Niger, he recalled.
“What is the situation today in the countries where there were military interventions? the Algerian president asked rhetorically. – Plook at what is happening in Libya, in Syria.”
A possible foreign military intervention “could lead to a hotbed of tension throughout the Sahel region,” he warned.
On July 30, four days after the military coup that toppled President-elect Moamed Bazum, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gave the conspirators seven days – until evening – to rebuild it, making it clear that otherwise could be applied” force”. According to sources familiar with the talks in Abuja, the heads of the armed forces of the West African states announced their readiness to send their forces (Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, etc.), but did not specify the number of forces to be mobilized.
However, the Algerian president stressed that “the two countries,” referring to Mali and Burkina Faso, are “ready to fight” along with the Niger putschists. The military regimes of the two countries have made it clear that they will view any military intervention in Niger’s affairs as a “declaration of war” against them.
Tabun stressed that Algeria stands for “institutional legitimacy.” It is necessary to return to this legitimacy and added that “we are ready to help” Niamey.
At the same time, there are critical remarks about the administration of D. Biden: “The United States of America has spent more than $500 million to build and equip the armed forces of Niger, but they have not been able to prevent a military coup, nor save the president of this country,” who was locked in his palace, writes “Wall Street Journal”.
Now American military bases in this country, which was considered one of the strongholds of the United States in Africa, may already be in the hands of Russia, the highly critical text of the American administration emphasizes.
In Niger, there are 1,500 French soldiers (not counting special forces soldiers, whose number is not known) and 1,200 American soldiers. The United States publicly condemned the coup, but shied away from clarifying the military bases. Instead, they ordered diplomats and their families to leave the country and ended the aid program while maintaining a diplomatic presence in the country. The reaction of the head of the government of Niger was simple: “Let them keep them to solve their homelessness problem.”
https://twitter.com/jacksonhinklle/status/1687865690013999104
The President of Niger, overthrown by the military junta, Mohamed Bazum, through the newspaper, called on the United States and other countries to help him restore constitutional order and said that if the putschists remain in power, the entire Central Sahel region could be under the influence of Russia in the person of Wagner PMC.
“In this hour of need, I call on the United States government and the entire international community to help us restore constitutional order,” wrote Mohamed Bazum in column in the Washington Postwhich he began with the words: “I write these lines as a hostage.”
In his appeal, Mohamed Bazum specifically notes that the military junta of Niger wants, like the juntas of neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, to invite the Russian Wagner PMC instead of the French and Americans, who have so far helped Niger fight Islamic radical groups.
“The entire region of the Central Sahel could fall under Russian influence through the Wagner Group, whose brutal terrorist methods have been amply demonstrated in Ukraine,” writes Bazum.
Niger is a major producer of uranium from which more than 30% of France’s energy is generated. The country lies on the main migration route to North Africa and the Mediterranean. It is planned to build a trans-Saharan pipeline through the country to pump natural gas. The $13 billion project itself was supposed to include a 4,000 km gas pipeline that would bring 30 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe annually. Given the destruction of northern streams and the embargo on gas supplies from the Russian Federation, this the pipeline is now of strategic importance.
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