International pressure on the coup leaders in Niger is mounting. They remain defiant, with General Abdourahamane Tiani saying he will not bow to any threats and that his leadership rejects sanctions.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has issued an August 4 ultimatum to the new regime to restore constitutional order. It indicated it was prepared to “use violence” to do so if necessary. Those now in power in Niger are unimpressed.
Gen Tiani, speaking on the occasion of Niger’s Independence Day, assured “en bloc” rejection of ECOWAS sanctions. According to him, they are “unjust and inhumane” and seek to “impoverish” Nigeriens.
In his view, “these sanctions are cynical and iniquitous”, aimed at “humiliating the defence and security forces, Niger and its people” and making “the situation untenable and the country ungovernable”.
“Nowhere in this contemptuous and bellicose attitude have the leaders [of ECOWAS] taken into account the sovereignty of our country,” he said.
ECOWAS members met on July 30 and ordered an economic blockade of Niger, deciding on the “immediate” suspension of “all commercial and financial transactions” with the country. Nigeria, Niger’s largest neighbour, even stopped providing electricity.
Military intervention in Niger would be “the last option” considered by the West African bloc to restore constitutional order, but “we must be prepared for this eventuality”, said one of the heads of ECOWAS on August 2 at the opening of the West African Chiefs of Staff meeting in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
Gen Tiani said the Niger coup was undertaken in the country’s “interest”, citing the deterioration of security there, with the nation plagued by jihadist violence.
“It’s the lives of Nigeriens and Niger that are at stake,” he said.
Since the coup late in July, Nigeriens have taken to the streets in support of the new regime and of Russia while expressing anti-French sentiments – in one incident attacking the French Embassy.
That led the French Government to organise a large-scale evacuation of its French citizens in Niger, together with hundreds of other Europeans and Westerners. More than 1,000 people were airlifted out of the country, more than half of them French.
Regarding the evacuation of the French, Gen Tiani claimed they had “no objective reason to leave Niger” because they had “never been the object of the slightest threat”.
L’évacuation de nos ressortissants du Niger vient de s’achever. 1 079 français et européens sont désormais en sécurité.
Fier de l’engagement et de l’excellent travail réalisé par l’@EtatMajorFR, l’@Armee_de_lair et @Armees_Gouv en collaboration avec @francediplo @MinColonna. pic.twitter.com/p0KQPLRWdo
— Sébastien Lecornu (@SebLecornu) August 3, 2023
Nevertheless, the US also evacuated “non-essential” US Embassy personnel and their families out of the Niger capital Niamey while the UK is reducing its own embassy staff.
On August 3, further rallies are planned in Niamey.
Niger is a poor country with a GDP of $16 billion in 2023. It has consistently been ranked at the bottom of the World Health Organisation’s Human Development Index.
In 2022, France gave almost €120 million to the landlocked nation. Niger is the second-most heavily subsidised country in the Sahel region of Africa by the French development aid services. Other groups also provided millions of euros in addition to offering advantageous loans to Niger.
Some 55 per cent of the country’s money comes from abroad, according to a provisional report on state budget execution to the end of March 2023, published by the Niger Ministry of Finance.
Niamey also benefited from financial support from the World Bank, UNICEF, the UN and its development programme, as well as the African Development Bank. Countries such as Germany, China, the United States and Belgium are also major funding contributors. Following the coup, many of these traditional donors and lenders are pulling out and suspending their programmes.
It is unclear how the new Niger Government will now pay its bills. Financial help from Russia might not be forthcoming either, given Moscow is fighting a hugely expensive war with Ukraine.
