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New rifts on the front of Niger, the Sahelian country recovering from the coup which ousted President Mohammed Bazoum. The military juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea, protagonists of coups between 2020 and 2022, have lined up against the seven-day ultimatum imposed by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and threaten reactions in the case of “use of force” feared by the bloc of countries.
In the meantime, the EU is evaluating how – and whether – to intervene on Niamey, in parallel with the first evacuations of Western citizens from the country. Paris has announced that it will begin “soon” the repatriation of compatriots living in Niger, for fear of reprisals against the large French community that resides in one of the (former) anchors of stability in the region. Italy has also decided to offer a “special flight” to fellow citizens present in Niamey, while keeping the embassy “open and operational, also to contribute to mediation efforts”.
The swirl of violence and coups
The coup d’état in Niger, perpetrated between 26 and 27 July, closes the circle of coups that followed one another in neighboring Mali (2020, 2021) and Burkina Faso (both 2022), accentuating the instability of a region it has turned into the heart of the jihadist insurgency on a global scale. The ousted president, Mohammed Bazoum, was considered a key ally of Westerners and of the “stabilization” missions deployed in the area. Paris alone employs 1,500 military personnel in the country, in addition to 1,000 from the United States and other European contingents, including 350 Italians. His departure from the scene has sparked fears of a (further) degeneration of the balance of a region increasingly tormented by the vicious circle between violence by armed gangs and repression of the coup forces.
The international community has expressed itself unitedly for the restoration of constitutional order and the return to power of Bazoum, the first Nigerien leader to be democratically elected in national history in 2021. The most drastic tightening came precisely from Ecowas, the economic bloc of West African countries, with a package of sanctions that includes no-fly zones, closure of borders and freezing of Nigerien assets in the central banks of other affiliated states.
The group, now led by the Nigerian president, has imposed a seven-day ultimatum for the return to order overturned by the coup d’état, obtaining for now the dry no of the coup leaders and the solidarity shown by the other military juntas in the club. Burkina Faso and Mali have issued a joint statement which reiterates their closeness to the new government in Niamey and rejects the hypothesis of a military intervention against the coup plotters, classified as an act of war against Ouagadougou and Bamako. Guinea has in turn expressed support for the putschists and defended the “sovereignty” of Niamey, fearing a fracture of Ecowas in the event of interference on the new Nigerien course.