This is an opinion piece by the democratically elected president of Niger.
Of course the Wagner group is involved with the coup. At this point they’re like a comical gaggle of supervillains.
Wagner are already in the neighbouring countries and have been for years.
It’s just that many people in the West didn’t notice them until Ukraine. It’s the Bader Meinhoff effect.
Niger is a major source of uranium and has both French and US military bases, so it’s higher in the Western news cycle than Mali was.
“I’ve been taken hostage” is an opinion piece?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Any attempt to overthrow a lawful government must be opposed, and we appreciate the strong and unequivocal condemnations of this cynical effort to undermine the remarkable progress Niger has made under democracy.
Notably, Niger’s security situation is significantly better than that of our neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, whose governments, both installed by military takeovers, support the illegal coup.
Rather than addressing security concerns by strengthening their own capacity, they employ criminal Russian mercenaries such as the Wagner Group at the expense of their people’s rights and dignity.
Workers did not go on strike in any major sector, and my administration signed landmark agreements with unions to create a safer and more stable working environment across the nation.
Recognizing the threat that Niger’s potential fall poses to the region, our neighbors in ECOWAS have announced unprecedented sanctions, including a ban on exports and imports of oil, and a suspension of cross-border financial transactions.
In Africa’s troubled Sahel region, Niger stands as the last bastion of respect for human rights amid the authoritarian movements that have overtaken some of our neighbors.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I hope the president can get out of this alive. If what he says is even somewhat true, seems like this junta allies itself with authoritarians, Wagner, and religious fundamentalists.
This is a good read.
I kinda hope the African Union & ECOWAS can sort this out by themselves and peacefully.
