2023-08-06 10:41:15
The tension grows around Nigera key country on the delicate strategic board of the Sahel. Hours are running towards the end of the deadline given by ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) for the Military Junta that took power with a coup d’état on July 26 replace the ousted president who had been elected in elections, Mohamed Bazoum.
At midnight this Sunday ends andThe one-week ultimatum given by the group of African countries, under Nigerian leadership and with an offer of troops, also from Senegal. The threat of armed intervention looms over the country that hosts the most sub-Saharan migration routes on its soil, with a war against jihadist terrorism on its borders and enormous climate pressure hitting its economy.
Meanwhile, images leaked everywhere on social networks show alleged mercenaries of the Russian private military firm Wagner deployed in the country.
The government of Canada has been the last to announce that suspend their assistance programs for development to the Government of Niger -not health and education aid to NGOs-, joining -in the same way as Washington- the measures of the international community that have been taking place this week in response to the attempted coup State suffered by the country on July 26.
plan of attack
In a statement issued by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Melanie Jolyand the Minister of International Development, Ahmed Hussenhave explained that this coup attempt “is a serious threat to democracy and stability in Niger and the Sahel” and that “undermining the rule of law threatens the progress of the democratically elected government towards peace, stability and development in Niger”, reports Europa Press.
Los niger scammers should be taken “very seriously” threat of one African military intervention to return the president to power Bazoum, as the French Foreign Minister warned this Saturday, Catherine Colonna, in statements to public radio FranceInfo collected by EFE. heads of Mayor state of the ECOWAS countries ended Friday a meeting that left designed a intervention plan if they receive an order to attack.
Mali and Burkina FasoBoth states, also under military juntas that have emerged from recent coups, have announced that they will consider any military intervention against Niger an aggression against their countries. In none of the three countries have the signs of russian influence that could have motivated the military coups, nor the growing presence of Wagner’s mercenaries.
Algeria has also shown this weekend its “categorical opposition” to an armed intervention in Nigerm, as announced this Saturday by the Algerian channel Ennahar TV, quoting the president Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Niger’s largest northern border is shared by the Sahelian country with Algeria.
request for calm
In this countdown there are also calls for calm. The first, those of the NGOs, such as the Spanish Red Cross, which work in the country distributing aid and advice to the poorest communities in the desert and in the Niamey conurbation.
Outside, the Nigerian Senate has expressed its rejection of the intention of the country’s president, Tinubu ball, to lead with the Nigerian military the deployment of a joint ECOWAS force in Niger. However, this position may be more pragmatic than pacifist: the jihadist group Boko Haram and numerous and very violent organized crime gangs attract all the energies of the Nigerian army, as considered by a source from the ‘Premium Times’ quoted by Europa Press.
The first step taken by the Nigerian coup leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, It has been to purge the General Staff of its armed forces of soldiers who are not attached to it because of the Military Junta, self-styled “patriotic salvation.”
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