West African leaders will gather on Sunday in Abuja, Nigeria, for a “extraordinary summit” on Niger, the location of the most recent military coup to rock the Sahel area, with sanctions potentially on the table. The military has been detaining the nation’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, for four days, and General Abdourahamane Tiani, the head of the imposing presidential guard, has proclaimed himself in charge.
It is unclear if the Economic Community of West African Nations (ECOWAS), the successor organization to the former colonial power France, would follow suit after the European Union and France discontinued their financial and security assistance to Niger.
Bola Tinubu, president of Nigeria and head of ECOWAS, stated in a statement on Friday that “ECOWAS and the international community would do everything to defend democracy and ensure democratic governance continues to take firm root in the region.”
Niger, one of the organization’s 15 members, might face punishment from the organisation. In a conversation with Tinubu before to the meeting on Sunday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his “deep concern” for the situation in Niger and “underscored his support for President Tinubu’s continued efforts to restore constitutional order” there.
Mali and Burkina Faso, two of Niger’s neighbors, have also had two military coups since 2020, spurred on by resentment at the inability to put an end to protracted insurgencies by jihadists affiliated with the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.
According to Tiani, the putsch was a reaction to “the degradation of the security situation” brought on by Islamist violence, corruption, and financial difficulties.
TUMULTIOUS POLITICAL HISTORY
Punitive actions have already started after a surge of criticism for the coup. The west African country, one of the world’s poorest nations, will no longer get development assistance or financial support from France, which has 1,500 troops stationed there.
Bazoum’s reinstatement and “an immediate return to constitutional order” were demanded. In the meanwhile, Josep Borrell, the diplomatic leader of the European Union, said that the organization would not recognize the putschists and that financial help to Niger would be suspended indefinitely.
Borrell echoed the foreign minister of France when he declared that the EU was prepared to back any future decisions made by ECOWAS, “including the adoption of sanctions”.
The military has been granted two weeks by the African Union to reestablish “constitutional authority”. It voiced its strong condemnation of the coup in “the strongest terms possible” and grave worry about the “alarming resurgence” of military coups throughout Africa.
Bazoum Washington has had the unwavering backing of the US, which has roughly 1,000 soldiers in Niger, and a warning that those holding him are “threaten[ing] years of successful cooperation and hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance.”
Despite having significant uranium reserves, the landlocked Niger often comes in last on the UN’s Human Development Index. Since attaining independence in 1960, there have been four coup attempts as well as countless more attempts, including two prior against Bazoum.