‘DEVASTATING’ FALLOUT FOR WORLD IF COUP SUCCEEDS IN NIGER, WARNS PRESIDENT BAZOUM

Mohamed Bazoum, the deposed president of Niger, has appealed to the international community to help restore his administration and warned that failure to do so will have “devastating” consequences for the world.

Bazoum, who was overthrown by the military last week, wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post in which he pleaded for assistance from the US and the rest of the world to “restore our constitutional order” in his nation.

“If it succeeds, it will have devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world.”

Bazoum, one of a dwindling number of pro-Western leaders in Africa, said the West African country has been a beacon of hope in a region plagued with violent extremism.

“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 neighbours,” Bazoum said.

“The entire Sahel region could fall to Russian influence via the Wagner Group, whose brutal terrorism has been on full display in Ukraine,” Bazoum added.

Niger, which gained its independence from France in 1960, has been viewed as one of the reliable partners of the West in fighting extremist groups in Africa’s Sahel region.

The West African country, which borders seven countries including Libya, Chad, and Nigeria, is the region’s largest recipient of US military aid, receiving an estimated $500 million since 2012.

Niger also hosts around 2,000 Western troops, the majority of them are from the United States and France.

Bazoum’s election in 2021 marked Niger’s first peaceful transition of power since independence.

General Abdourahamane Tchiani announced himself the head of a transitional administration on state television on Friday, after toppling the government in order to prevent the country’s “gradual and inevitable demise.”