FROM OUR REPORTER
PARIS – “Call us at any time,” said Evgeny Prigozhin, the head of Wagner, to the coup plotters in Niger. “Dialogue is the preferable tool for resolving the crisis,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sends to say to African and Western partners. In the evening, in an interview with the BBC, Blinken adds: “I don’t know if what is happening in Niger was fomented by Russia or by Wagner, but they are the ones who are trying to take advantage of it”.
The fate of the African country is suspended between these two declarations, between the potentially devastating prospect of war and a complex negotiation.
The heads of state of the African block have made an appointment for tomorrow, Thursday 10 August, in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. The remaining time should be used to start a dialogue with the new masters of Niger. But the signs are not encouraging.
Yesterday Tiani rejected the proposal to meet an Ecowas delegation. She didn’t even land them: it’s the second time in a week. The treatment reserved for Victoria Nuland, undersecretary at the State Department, one of the key figures in US foreign policy, also bordered on the diplomatic incident. Nuland herself told reporters that on Monday 7 August she had met with the leaders of the junta, but not with General Tiani. The American also asked to see President Bazoum: request rejected. «They were difficult talks. I have not found availability for a negotiation,” concluded Nuland.
On Sunday 6 August, Tiani was cheered by around 30,000 supporters in the Niamey stadium. Yesterday he appointed his prime minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zani, former head of Finance from 2002 to 2010. But, above all, according to rumors, he is already in “close contact” with Prigozhin and his mercenaries.
All moves that hinder the confrontation with the outside. In the aftermath of the coup, President Emmanuel Macron seemed ready to support the intervention of Ecowas, perhaps by relying on the 1,500 French soldiers stationed in Niger. American prudence, shared by Germany and Italy, i.e. the other countries that have military contingents in the country, convinced France to tone it down.
A reverse that triggered an intense debate in Paris. Most commentators, from right and left, speak of the “failure” of Macron’s “African doctrine”. Even Ecowas seems to have regrouped, at least until 10 August. The organization is led by the president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, who initially advocated an armed operation. But yesterday he repeated Blinken’s words to Le Monde: “diplomacy is the best way forward”.