The Spanish government has immediately suspended bilateral development cooperation with Niger due to the coup d’état by a military group that has assumed control of the African country.
Last Wednesday, a group of soldiers took control of the country’s institutions and announced on television that they were assuming power.
The leader of the military coup, the General Abdourahmane Tchianiassumed the head of state as president of a National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland.
The Spanish government demanded, through a statement, the return to constitutional order and the release of the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoumretained by the military since the coup.
Spain’s rupture of cooperation with Niger frustrates the plan announced last January by the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albareswhich provided for Spain to triple the funds allocated to cooperation aid to Niger in the period 2023-2027.
That agreement implied that Spain’s aid, now cancelled, to the African country would amount to at least 60 million euros.
In recent years, Niger has received €212.3 million in aid. Is about one of the poorest countries in the world where almost 75% of the population lives in absolute poverty.
The Spanish government’s statement rejects “in the strongest terms” the coup d’état and the self-proclamation of the General Tchiani as the country’s leader.
Likewise, it is specified that Spain does not recognize more legitimacy than that of the President Bazoum “derived from the sovereign and democratic will freely expressed by the people of Niger”.
And he adds that «the preservation of the Niger legal order and the safeguarding of its democratic institutions are essential.
The coup has provoked international condemnation. The Economic Community of West African States (Cedao) does not even rule out using military force to free President Bazoum and return him to power.
