US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken offered Niger’s ousted leader Mohamed Bazoum Washington’s steadfast support, warning those detaining him that “hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance” was at risk, the State Department said Friday.
General Abdourahamane Tchiani, head of the Presidential Guard since 2011, has declared himself the new leader of Niger after a coup earlier this week in which the pro-Western Bazoum was detained.
Blinken, who was wrapping up a multi-nation Pacific tour, called Bazoum for the second time in as many days to offer America’s “unflagging support,” department spokesman Matt Miller said in a statement.
Also read: Niger Republic military junta warns against foreign intervention
The US secretary of state also “praised Bazoum’s role in promoting security not only in Niger but the wider West Africa region,” and said Washington would keep working to “ensure the full restoration of constitutional order and democratic rule in Niger.”
In a separate call to former Nigerien leader Mahamadou Issoufou, Blinken expressed concern over Bazoum’s ongoing detention, and that “negotiations to ensure constitutional order in Niger were at an impasse.”
He told Issoufou that he “regretted that those detaining Bazoum were threatening years of successful cooperation and hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance” to Niamey, and asked Issoufou to keep working on Bazoum’s behalf, Miller said.
Washington had already warned it could cease security and other cooperation with Niger, where about 1,000 US troops are stationed — for now.
Blinken also spoke with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna about the situation in Niger, emphasizing the “urgency of efforts to restore constitutional order” in the jihadist-hit West African nation.
Abdourahmane Tchiani, head of Niger’s presidential guard, has named himself head of a transitional government in Niger, two days after his guards detained and overthrew democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
He made the announcement on Friday, July 28 on state-run television, saying he was the “president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland.”
The 62-year-old general also said the intervention had been necessary to avoid “the gradual and inevitable demise” of the country.
Tchiani was drafted to lead the elite unit in 2015..He is from Niger’s western region of Tillaberi, a main recruitment area for the army.
The general reportedly led the resistance to a thwarted coup attempt in March 2021, when a military unit tried to seize the presidential palace days before Bazoum, who had just been elected, was due to be sworn in.
On Wednesday, Tchiani’s unit detained Bazoum in the presidential palace in the capital, Niamey, provoking a flurry of condemnation from leaders within Africa and beyond.
Colonel Amadou Abdramane, spokesperson of the Nigerien army, had said on state TV on Wednesday that security forces had decided to “put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance”.
Abdramane said Niger’s borders are closed, a nationwide curfew declared, and all institutions of the republic are suspended. The soldiers warned against any foreign intervention, adding that they will respect Bazoum’s wellbeing.
Hours later, a defiant Bazoum had said the country’s “hard-won gains” in establishing democracy would be protected.
“All Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom would want this,” he said early on Thursday on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The coup is the fifth successful one in the landlocked country since it gained independence from France.
(AFP)
