Several hundred people gathered in the capital, Niamey, yesterday, chanting support for Russia’s private military contractor Wagner Group while waving Russian flags, burning cars and looting the president’s party headquarters. “We are fed up,” said Omar Issaka, one of the protesters.
“We are tired of being the target of the men of the bush… Down with the French. We are going to collaborate with Russia now,” he said.
The soldiers have not announced who their leader is and the president, Mohamed Bazoum, who was elected two years ago in the country’s first peaceful and democratic transfer of power since it gained independence from France in 1960, has not resigned.
Some of the latest public messages from the government included a defiant tweet from the president on Thursday declaring that democracy would prevail, and a call by Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou on French outlet France 24 for Nigeriens to rise up against the riot.
A person close to the president who was not authorized to discuss the situation told The Associated Press that Bazoum has no intention of resigning and that talks were underway.
But it was not clear who is participating in that dialogue, the nature of the discussions or how they are unfolding.
According to analysts, the coup could destabilize the country and threatens to drastically change the international community’s commitment to the Sahel region.
Bazoum is a key ally in Western efforts to fight jihadists, and the West African nation has been seen as the last great Western partner in the face of extremism in a region where anti-French sentiment has paved the way for the Wagner Group.
Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso have expelled the French army, which had collaborated in their fight against the jihadists. Mali has hired Wagner and it is believed that the mercenaries will soon be in Burkina Faso as well.
The Economic Community of West African States said earlier this week it would send Benin’s President Patrice Talon to lead mediation efforts, but Talon was not in the country on Friday. In their first address to the nation Wednesday night, the rioters urged “outside partners” not to interfere.
For her part, the French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, told the French press on Friday that the president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke several times with Bazoum. According to Colonna, France believes that there is still a way out of the crisis and considers that the coup attempt lacks legitimacy.
Also on Thursday, US Vice President Kamala Harris said that the “country’s cooperation with the government of Niger is contingent on Niger’s continued commitment to democratic norms.”
Niger could lose millions of dollars in aid and military assistance that the United States and European countries have recently provided in an attempt to help fight Islamic extremism.
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Associated Press writer John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.
FOUNTAIN: Associated Press
