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Agence France-Presse

The second-ranking US diplomat met with Niger’s military leaders on Monday to press to reverse a coup but reported no headway a day after an ultimatum from the West African bloc was ignored.
Victoria Nuland, a veteran envoy and acting deputy secretary of state, said she met for more than two hours with military chiefs who ousted democratically elected Western ally Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.
Nuland’s trip, conducted in secrecy until she left, came after the expiration of a deadline set by the ECOWAS regional bloc to reinstate Bazoum by midnight on Sunday or risk military intervention.
The 15-nation ECOWAS bloc is reconvening for its own diplomatic push on the crisis with a summit Thursday in Nigerian capital Abuja.

A source close to ECOWAS said an immediate military intervention to restore Bazoum was not envisaged at this stage, adding that the path to dialogue still appeared open.
Speaking to reporters before her departure, Nuland described her talks as “extremely frank and at times quite difficult”.
Niger’s junta shuts airspace, warns of attack by foreign powers
She said she offered the coup leaders “a number of options” to exit the crisis and restore the relationship with the United States, which like other Western nations has suspended aid.
“I would not say that we were in any way taken up on that offer,” she said.
She added that the coup leaders did not respond to her requests to meet Niger’s self-proclaimed new leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani, or the detained elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, although US officials have been in touch with Bazoum by telephone.
Nuland said she met Brigadier General Moussa Salaou Barmou, who has been named the new military chief of staff and who has worked closely in the past with the United States, which along with former colonial power France has based anti-jihadist operations in the Sahel out of Niger.
Nuland said she warned Niger against following neighbouring Mali in bringing in Russia’s Wagner mercenaries.
“The people who have taken this action here understand very well the risks to their sovereignty when Wagner is invited in,” said Nuland, who is known for her hawkish stance on Russia.

Adding pressure on those seeking a diplomatic route out of the coup, Niger’s neighbours have strongly rejected the possibility of a regional military intervention.
Mali said it and Burkina Faso – which have both been suspended from ECOWAS over their own military coups – were sending a joint official delegation to Niamey to show “solidarity (with) the people of Niger”.
They have said military intervention would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
Algeria, which shares a long land border with Niger, has also cautioned against a military solution, which President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said would be “a direct threat” to his North African country.
Senators in regional heavyweight Nigeria urged everyone to focus on the “political and diplomatic option”.
Just before the ultimatum expired on Sunday, Niger’s military rulers closed the Sahel country’s airspace and warned any attempt to enter it would meet with an “energetic and immediate response”.
In Niger, China’s path to stability may diverge from Western priorities
They said there had been a “pre-deployment in preparation for intervention” made by two Central African countries, without naming them, and warned: “Any state involved will be considered co-belligerent”.
But Niger’s military rulers also urged an ECOWAS delegation to return for talks, Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou told French broadcaster TV5 Monde Monday, after an abortive first attempt.
Mahamadou said in his interview that Bazoum – held with his wife and son – was enduring deteriorating conditions.
“The junta have asked the ECOWAS delegation to return” and its members “will be in Niamey probably today (Monday) or tomorrow”, Mahamadou said.
An ECOWAS delegation arrived in the capital Niamey last Thursday but did not stay overnight as scheduled. It did not meet either Bazoum or Tiani.
The UN secretary general’s representative for West Africa and the Sahel, Leonardo Santos Simao, was also in Abuja for talks on the crisis.
France, with which Niger’s new rulers have broken military ties, said it would “firmly” back whatever course of action ECOWAS took after the deadline expired.
On Monday, the military leaders appointed former finance minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as the new prime minister and Habibou Assoumane as the new commander of the presidential guard.
Niger’s coup is the latest of several in Africa’s Sahel belt since 2020.
Niger has been critical to Western strategies to combat jihadist insurgencies that have plagued the Sahel since 2012, with France and the United States stationing around 1,500 and 1,000 troops in the country respectively.


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Africa

Senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland meets with Niger coup leaders, had ‘difficult’ talks

Members of a military council that staged a coup in Niger attend a rally at a stadium in Niamey. Photo: Reuters

Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland. File photo: AFP

Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum in Washington in 2022. File photo: Reuters

Niger’s junta shuts airspace as deadline passes, warns of attack by foreign powers

A spokesman for the coup leaders, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, is greeted by supporters at a stadium in Niamey on Sunday. Photo: AFP

A supporter of Niger’s National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland wears a hat with a Russian and a Niger flag. Photo: AFP

Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum visiting Washington in 2022. File photo: Reuters

In Niger, China’s path to stability may diverge from Western security priorities

After the coup in Niger, observers say Beijing may want to take a back seat and focus on immediate matters, such as evacuating nationals and protecting Chinese investments. Photo: EPA-EFE

Workers from Niger and China at the construction site of an oil pipeline in Niger in October, 2022. Photo: AFP

In Niger, US seeks to hang on to its last, best counterterror outpost in West Africa

For the US, abandoning Niger risks not only a surge in jihadist groups, but even greater influence by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group. Photo: AP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum in March. Photo: AP

Niger coup: what would West African bloc’s threat to use force to restore democracy look like?

ECOWAS Senegalese troops in Gambia in 2017. West Africa’s regional bloc has threatened the use of force in reinstating the president of Niger. File photo: AP

Italian nationals and other European and American citizens, who have been evacuated from Niger, arrive at Ciampino Airport, near Rome, Italy. Photo: Reuters

Nigeriens, some holding Russian flags, participate in a march called by supporters of coup leader General Abdourahmane Tiani in Niamey, Niger. Photo: AP

General Abdourahmane Tiani, who was declared as the new head of state of Niger by leaders of a coup. Photo: Reuters

News

World

Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met with senior leaders of the military junta in Niger
She described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to US pressure to return the country to civilian rule


Victoria Nuland met with Niger’s military leaders to press to reverse a coup but reported no headway.


Algeria

Niger

Senior US diplomat Victoria Nuland meets with Niger coup leaders, had ‘difficult’ talks

Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met with senior leaders of the military junta in Niger She described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to US pressure to return the country to civilian rule

Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met with senior leaders of the military junta in Niger

She described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to US pressure to return the country to civilian rule