Nigeria-led regional bloc ready to flex its muscle in Niger

Source: The Guardian

Nigeria-led regional bloc ready to flex its muscle in Niger

Coup leaders and Russia are attempting to frame takeover as anti-neocolonialism after misjudging reaction from Ecowas

Peter Beaumont
Fri 4 Aug 2023 05.00 BST
Last modified on Fri 4 Aug 2023 14.21 BST

In the square in central Niamey on Thursday, the anniversary of Niger’s independence from France, the mainly young men who gathered to demonstrate in favour of the military coup against President Mohamed Bazoum brought with them Russian flags and anti-French slogans.

It remained unclear whether the demonstration was spontaneous or organised to coincide with a speech by the coup leader Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani in which he decried the threat of interference by the west and regional powers led by Nigeria.

But the harnessing of anti-French – and more widely anti-foreign – sentiment has rapidly become a key element of how the coup is being framed by its leaders and supporters as the junta faces the threat of military intervention by the Ecowas regional grouping if Bazoum is not restored to power.

In the space of just over a week Niger has become the focus of a series of overlapping crises and issues that have spilled out from the instability of a coup-prone Sahel region destabilised by jihadi insurgencies, drawing in the biggest players in west Africa, with Nigeria – the most powerful Ecowas member – at the fore.

Niger, a recipient of substantial funding from the west and host of western military bases, has been thrust towards the region’s geopolitical frontline after countries including Burkina Faso, Mali and Guinea have also succumbed to military takeovers and been courted by Russia.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/04/nigeria-ecowas-ready-to-flex-muscle-niger-coup-russia

Non-walled link: https://archive.li/oi2JJ