- Russian Wagner chief views military takeover as victory while African Union, Western countries denounced it
As a statement came the regional body, ECOWAS was getting ready to approve a “plan of aggression against Niger,” the coup leaders in Niamey warned regional and Western powers against using military force to restore the deposed President.
There have been no comments from the West African nation group but it is getting together to talk about the coup, which it has denounced.
Following France’s decision to stop aid, hundreds of coup supporters demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Niamey and, according to the AFP news agency, some of them shouted “Down with France,” “Long live Russia,” and “Long live Putin.”
The office of President Emmanuel Macron issued a statement saying that France would not tolerate any attack on its interests in Niger and would respond “immediately and intractable.”
There are worries that Niger might turn toward Russia as a result of the coup. Since their respective coups, neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali have both gotten closer to Russia.
The head of the Presidential Guards unit, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, who has proclaimed himself the new ruler of Niger, has warned ECOWAS and unnamed Western nations against interfering.
“We once again reiterate to ECOWAS or any other adventurer our firm determination to defend our fatherland,” the statement, which was read out on TV, said.
The ECOWAS chairman, Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, issued a warning about the rise in terrorism and the coup trend in West Africa around two weeks ago, calling for immediate action.
While both the African Union and Western countries have denounced the military takeover, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian Wagner mercenary group, is said to have hailed it as a victory, the BBC reported.
“What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers,” he was quoted as saying on a Wagner-affiliated Telegram channel, although his comments have not been independently verified.
Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Mali have all experienced military coups in recent years.
The Wagner mercenary group from Russia has been hired by the Mali junta to aid in the fight against militant Islamists.
In response to escalating junta hostility, the former colonial power France announced the withdrawal of its troops last year and later changed the location of its regional military command to Niger.
Following a decade of battling Islamist militants, Mali’s junta announced in June that the 12,000 UN peacekeepers also had to depart.
In agreement, the UN announced that the withdrawal would be finished by the end of the year.
Additionally, France announced on Saturday that it had stopped providing Niger with any budgetary or development assistance.
While the AU has asked the army to return to base within 15 days, the European Union and the US have made similar decisions.