The leaders in the recent coup in in the West African nation of Niger have called for help from Russia’s Wagner mercenaries after neighbouring countries threatened military intervention if the country’s ousted president is not restored by Sunday August 6, 2023
Gen Salifou Mody, one of the Nigerien officers leading the coup, made the request on a visit to neighbouring Mali, the Associated Press reported, citing a Western military official and three Malian sources.
The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) has given the rebels an ultimatum to return Mohamed Bazoum to power or face military action.
“All the elements that will go into any eventual intervention have been worked out,” said Abdel-Fatau Musah, the bloc’s commissioner.
“We want diplomacy to work, and we want this message clearly transmitted to them that we are giving them every opportunity to reverse what they have done.”
As many as 50,000 troops from countries including Nigeria, Senegal and Ivory Coast could be deployed to restore civilian rule, a military source told French newspaper Le Monde.
Troll farms run by Wagner have often sought to stoke anti-French sentiment in the region, with its armed mercenaries providing security and training for local military juntas.
Maps shared by the group would often feature African countries alongside the flags of their former colonial overlords, making clear that Russia or China were not involved in their oppression.
The coup to take control of Niger, a former French colony, played on the exact same sentiment.
The threat of force emerged after an Ecowas delegation left Niger last Thursday having failed to restore peace or meet either the coup leaders or the ousted president.
Gen Abdourahamane Tiani, who declared himself Niger’s new leader after the military coup, said his junta would not back down.
And Mali and Burkina Faso, led by military juntas, have warned any regional intervention would amount to a “declaration of war” against them.
Russia has sought to capitalise on sentiment against France, the former colonial power in the region, to increase its influence there through Wagner. Despite heavy losses in Ukraine, Wagner is believed to have at least 1,500 guns for hire deployed in Mali.
On Thursday, thousands of Nigeriens gathered on the streets to celebrate the coup on the anniversary of the country’s independence, some waving Russian flags and chanting anti-French slogans.
France relies heavily on Niger for uranium to fuel its nuclear power stations and has used it as a base to fight against Islamic terrorism in the Sahel. After the failed peace talks this week, the junta announced it was severing all military ties with Paris.
There was no indication whether Gen Mody met Wagner representatives on his visit to Mali. However, the gathering was attended by Col Sadio Camara, Mali’s defence minister, who was sanctioned by the US for facilitating Wagner’s involvement in his country.
Gen Mody was due to travel next to Burkina Faso, where leaders have forged closer ties with Russia in recent months.
Sahel ‘could fall to Russian influence’
In his first public statement, Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained by the junta in his official presidential residence, said a successful putsch would “have devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world”.
He wrote in The Washington Post: “The entire Sahel region could fall to Russian influence via the Wagner group, whose brutal terrorism has been on full display in Ukraine.”
Moscow warned against any military intervention by the 15 countries that comprise Ecowas.
“It is unlikely that the intervention of any extra-regional force can change the situation for the better,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said earlier this week.
France has vowed to support whatever outcome the bloc takes after the expiration of the deadline.
Paris said that “the future of Niger and the stability of the entire region are at stake” as tension ratcheted up over the future of one of the world’s poorest countries.
“France supports with firmness and determination the efforts of Ecowas to defeat this coup attempt,” its foreign ministry said in a statement.
As Sunday’s deadline loomed, a delegation from Ecowas visited Algeria and Libya to drum up support among its regional partners.
