“I call on the U.S. government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order,” he said. “Fighting for our shared values, including democratic pluralism and respect for the rule of law, is the only way to make sustainable progress against poverty and terrorism. The Nigerien people will never forget your support at this pivotal moment in our history.”
On Thursday, the State Department said it would help evacuate private American citizens in Niger. They will be offered seats on a commercial flight chartered by the State Department that, if all goes to plan, will leave the Nigerien capital, Niamey, Friday afternoon, senior state department officials said on condition of anonymity.
There had already been a reduction in U.S. government personnel. Roughly 1,110 U.S. troops had been helping build up Niger’s special forces to combat Boko Haram, Islamic State militants and al Qaeda-linked groups. France, a former colonial power that ruled the country until 1960, has about 1,500 troops on the ground.
Although France, Germany and the European Union have called the takeover by the military officers a coup, the Biden administration so far has refrained from using the word, something that would mean the suspension of all U.S. economic and military assistance.
France, as well as other nations including the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), have already imposed sanctions.
Envoys for the ECOWAS regional bloc arrived Thursday for talks, having set Niger’s mutinous soldiers a Sunday deadline to release and reinstate Bazoum or face potential force.
The military uprising has been characterized by the same anti-French sentiment of coups in other neighboring ex-French colonies.
And on Thursday, a representative of the military junta now controlling Niger said the country was canceling a raft of military cooperation agreements with Paris. It has also suspended broadcasts of French state-funded international news outlets.
In an announcement on state television, the junta also said it was firing some of the previous government’s key ambassadors, including to the U.S.
Despite African and Western pressure, junta leader Abdourahamane Tiani, the former head of Niger’s presidential guard, has said he will not back down. He has cited insecurity as his main justification, even though data shows militant attacks have been decreasing.
Courtney Kube, Associated Press and Reuters contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
