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Thursday, August 10, 2023
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Nigeria envoys meet with Niger junta
Niger's military junta met with two Nigerian envoys on Wednesday, offering hope for dialogue before a summit with regional leaders that could result in military action to restore democracy.
The talks took place as Niger accused France of violating its airspace, attacking a military camp and freeing "terrorists" to undermine the country. Paris denied the charges.
Army officer Amadou Abdramane, speaking for the coup leaders, made the allegations in a video statement without providing evidence, stoking tension ahead of Thursday's meeting of West African heads of state, who are expected to discuss options including military action against the junta.
"What we are seeing is a plan to destabilise our country," Abdramane said.
France's foreign ministry rejected the accusations, saying its aircraft was operating under an existing agreement with Niger forces and its troops were in the west African nation at the request of legitimate authorities.
During its standoff, the junta has rebuffed diplomatic overtures from African, U.S. and U.N. envoys. The junta leaders made an exception by meeting on Wednesday with two envoys of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who also chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in the capital Niamey, a Nigerian government source said.
The envoys - prominent traditional leaders Lamido Muhammad Sanusi and Abdullsalami Abubarkar - were allowed into the country despite closed borders.
Only Sanusi met junta leader General Abdourahamane Tiani, while his counterpart met with other representatives at the airport.
"We’ll continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time for public diplomacy," Sanusi told reporters upon his return to Abuja.
"CRUEL" DETENTION
The party of Niger's deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, accused the junta, which seized power on July 26, of keeping him and his family in "cruel" and "inhumane" detention at the presidential residence.
In a statement calling for a nationwide mobilisation to save them, the PNDS-Tarayya party on Wednesday said the Bazoums had no running water, no electricity and no access to fresh goods or doctors.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. was greatly worried about Bazoum's safety and was still looking for a reversal of the military takeover.
"We continue to engage with our partners in the region. We continue to engage with other governments," he told a briefing.
U.S. troops are in Niger along with French, Italian and German forces as part of international efforts to combat Islamist insurgents devastating the Sahel region under agreements with the now-deposed civilian government.
Rhetoric against former colonial power France has been a feature of coups in the region over the past two years, including in Mali and Burkina Faso, whose army rulers are strongly backing the generals now in charge in Niamey.
The junta has revoked military pacts with France, but Paris has rejected that decision, saying it was not taken by Niger's legitimate authorities.
INTERNAL CHALLENGE
The coup was triggered by internal politics but spun into an international drama. ECOWAS, the United Nations and Western countries have pressured the junta to stand down, while Mali and Burkina Faso have vowed to defend it.
The political scene became more complex on Wednesday as former rebel Rhissa Ag Boula announced a new Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) aimed at reinstating Bazoum.
"Niger is the victim of a tragedy orchestrated by people charged with protecting it," Ag Boula's statement said. The CRR would use "any means necessary" to stop the military takeover and supports international diplomacy, he said.
The challenge from Ag Boula raises the spectre of internal conflict in Niger, which until the coup was an important ally for the West in a region where other countries have turned towards Russia.
Western powers fear Russian influence could grow stronger if the junta in Niger follows Mali's example by ejecting Western troops and inviting in mercenaries from Russia's Wagner Group.
Ag Boula played a leading role in uprisings by Tuaregs, a nomadic ethnic group in Niger's desert north, in the 1990s and 2000s. Like many former rebels, he was integrated into government under Bazoum and his predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou.
The coup's border and airspace closures have cut off supplies and hampered aid. The takeover has also prompted foreign financial sanctions against one of the world's poorest countries.
By Abdel-Kader Mazou and Felix Onuah, Reuters
Related story: Nigeria not ruling out force in Niger
Wednesday, August 9, 2023
Nigeria not ruling out force in Niger
Bola Tinubu, who also chairs the bloc ECOWAS, still believes diplomacy is the "best way forward" to resolve the crisis, according to his spokesman.
So far efforts by ECOWAS and the United States to convince Niger's new rulers to hand back power to the democratically elected leader have made little headway.
The soldiers who took charge defied a Sunday deadline to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum or face the possible use of force and have been unswayed by negotiations, instead staging a rally at a stadium in the capital Niamey.
"No options have been taken off of the table," Tinubu's spokesman Ajuri Ngelale said on Tuesday.
The United States said it still hopes the coup could be undone but is "realistic", a day after a top US envoy appeared to make no progress in an unannounced visit.
"At the same time, we are making clear, including in direct conversations with junta leaders themselves, what the consequences are for failing to return to constitutional order," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on social media that he had spoken to Bazoum "to express our continued efforts to find a peaceful resolution to the current constitutional crisis".
Delegation rebuffed
ECOWAS -- the Economic Community of West African States -- imposed trade and financial sanctions on Niger after the rebel soldiers toppled Bazoum.
Instead of heeding the bloc's seven-day ultimatum to reinstate Bazoum or face potential military intervention, the soldiers who seized power closed Niger's airspace.
The bloc also sought to send a delegation to Niamey on Tuesday ahead of Thursday's crisis summit.
But the ruling military blocked the mission, saying public "anger" triggered by the bloc's sanctions meant the delegation's safety could be at risk.
In a statement, ECOWAS confirmed that the visit by a joint delegation with African Union and United Nations officials had been refused.
In a further show of defiance and possible intent to hold on to power, the military leaders announced on Monday the appointment of Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine as the new prime minister.
'Difficult' talks
ECOWAS is struggling with a cascade of coups since 2020 that have now hit four of its 15 members.
In Mali, Burkina Faso and now Niger, all the takeovers have been fuelled by jihadist insurgencies that have claimed many thousands of lives, forced at least two million from their homes and dealt crippling blows to some of the world's poorest economies.
On Monday, veteran US envoy Victoria Nuland met with Niger's military rulers for more than two hours but came away empty-handed.
She described her talks as "extremely frank and at times quite difficult".
She said she offered the coup leaders "a number of options" to end the crisis and restore relations 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 told reporters before her departure.
Niger's new head, General Abdourahamane Tiani, did not attend the meeting, and Nuland was unable to see Bazoum, who has been detained since July 26.
Warnings
The military leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso have expressed solidarity with Niger, saying any military intervention would be seen as a "declaration of war" against them.
The two countries sent letters Tuesday to the United Nations and the African Union, calling on them to prevent "military intervention against Niger" where the security and humanitarian consequences of such action "would be unpredictable".
Algeria, which shares a long land border with Niger, has also cautioned against a military incursion, which President Abdelmadjid Tebboune said would be "a direct threat" to his country.
Bazoum, 63, was feted in 2021 after winning elections that ushered in Niger's first-ever peaceful transition of power.
He took the helm of a country burdened by four previous coups since independence, and survived two attempted putsches before he himself was ousted.
France has 1,500 troops in Niger and the United States has 1,000 personnel, most of whom are deployed at two major air bases.
Related story: Senate in Nigeria rejects president’s demand to send troops to Niger
Tuesday, August 8, 2023
Senate okays president Tinubu Cabinet nominees
Nigeria's Senate on Monday approved 45 of President Bola Tinubu's nominees to Cabinet positions after individually vetting them in the past week, paving the way for their swearing-in as government ministers.
Among those approved is Olawale Edun, a longtime Tinubu adviser who has long been tipped to become the next finance minister in Africa's biggest economy.
The Senate president said three names were yet to be approved as lawmakers awaited their security clearance.
Nigeria's Senate has the power to stop a president's Cabinet appointments, but Tinubu's ruling party has a majority in the chamber and the nominations were expected to be approved.
It was not immediately clear when the nominees will be allocated their ministerial portfolios.
Under Nigerian law, the president is required to choose at least one Cabinet member from each of the country's 36 states.
The number of Cabinet nominees has led to criticism from opponents who say this will lead to a bloated administration at a time when Tinubu has asked citizens to be patient with his reforms, the removal of a popular but costly petrol subsidy, that has lead to soaring prices.
Tinubu won a disputed February election on promises to reboot the country's flagging economy, deal with a high debt burden and double-digit inflation, and address widespread insecurity.
By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
Among those approved is Olawale Edun, a longtime Tinubu adviser who has long been tipped to become the next finance minister in Africa's biggest economy.
The Senate president said three names were yet to be approved as lawmakers awaited their security clearance.
Nigeria's Senate has the power to stop a president's Cabinet appointments, but Tinubu's ruling party has a majority in the chamber and the nominations were expected to be approved.
It was not immediately clear when the nominees will be allocated their ministerial portfolios.
Under Nigerian law, the president is required to choose at least one Cabinet member from each of the country's 36 states.
The number of Cabinet nominees has led to criticism from opponents who say this will lead to a bloated administration at a time when Tinubu has asked citizens to be patient with his reforms, the removal of a popular but costly petrol subsidy, that has lead to soaring prices.
Tinubu won a disputed February election on promises to reboot the country's flagging economy, deal with a high debt burden and double-digit inflation, and address widespread insecurity.
By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
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