[The people of Niger, facing a desperate situation, are threatened
with the withdrawal of vital humanitarian aid from the country in
response to the coup, a move tantamount to a punitive measure and
essentially exploiting aid as leverage.]
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LIBERATION STATEMENT ON THE SITUATION IN NIGER  
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Morning Star
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_ The people of Niger, facing a desperate situation, are threatened
with the withdrawal of vital humanitarian aid from the country in
response to the coup, a move tantamount to a punitive measure and
essentially exploiting aid as leverage. _

Nigeriens participate in a march called by supporters of coup leader
Gen Abdourahmane Tchiani, pictured, in Niamey, Niger,

 

LIBERATION is deeply concerned by the unfolding crisis in Niger, one
of the world's most impoverished countries, amid the continuing
instability that plagues the Sahel region — currently the most
fraught on the African continent.

Niger is the latest country to experience a military coup d’état,
and the manifold perils that often accompany such an occurrence, in an
oft-overlooked region that was until not so long ago a backwater
domain of empires, and which has suffered from the continued
mal-interference of former colonial and regional powers ever since —
not to mention that of the United States, European Union, and Nato.

Liberation maintains that foremost amongst the considerations of any
progressive onlooker to the developments currently underway in Niger
— regarding which there is a relative dearth of information at
present — should be the dire humanitarian situation in the country
and the vulnerability of the already beleaguered Nigerien civilian
population in the face of an impending crisis restricted not only to
the circumstances surrounding the coup itself and suspension of the
political process in the country, but also the threatened suspension
of vital humanitarian aid as well as the potential of a foreign
military intervention as mooted by West African leaders.

According to the latest report from the World Bank, Niger has a poorly
diversified economy, with basic agriculture accounting for 40 per cent
of its GDP. More than 10 million persons (41.8 per cent of the
population) were living in extreme poverty in 2021. Niger is one of
the poorest countries in the world, receiving close to $2 billion a
year in official development assistance.

Niger is also grappling with an influx of refugees fleeing the ongoing
conflicts in Nigeria and Mali. As of August 31 2022, the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had identified 294,467
refugees and almost 350,000 displaced persons in the country and the
situation has likely significantly worsened since.

While President Mohamed Bazoum, who hails from the country's small
Arab minority in a predominantly black African nation, was successful
in elections held in December 2020 and February 2021 — which marked
the first democratic transfer of power in the country's history —
the country remains at the mercy of former colonial power France and
the US, and by extension the EU and Nato respectively, which have
sought to use the country as a regional base and garrison supposedly
for the purposes of safeguarding the area from and countering the
threat of Islamist insurgent groups — many of which have ties with
internationally proscribed terrorist organisations, including al-Qaida
and Islamic State — in west and central Africa’s wider Sahel
region.

The US has two military bases in Niger, with an estimated 1,100
soldiers, while the French presence in the country is estimated at
1,500 military personnel.

Niger also struggles with a security crisis in its hinterland areas
bordering Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Mali, where armed groups continue
to menace defenceless civilians as well as carry out repeated attacks
against the Nigerien and foreign security forces.

The coup d’etat initiated by the military on July 26 has resulted in
the arrest and incarceration of President Bazoum followed by the
declaration of the hitherto head of the Nigerien presidential guard,
General Abdourahamane (aka Omar) Tchiani, as the country’s new de
facto leader, as well as the closure of all land and air borders and
the establishment of a military curfew.

Demonstrations have taken place both in favour of the coup and in
favour of the ousted President Bazoum, underlining the deep divisions
in Niger.

The US has called for the release of President Bazoum, describing
Niger as “a crucial partner” in the region. Former colonial power
France, which relies upon Niger as the main source of uranium for its
nuclear power plants, has also condemned the coup, demanded the
release of President Bazoum, and refused any suggestion that its
military forces leave the country as it did previously in neighbouring
Mali.

Liberation is concerned that destabilisation in Niger could rapidly
extend to further uncertainty in the wider already deeply troubled
Sahel region.

While Liberation does not see the coup or the suspension of
constitutional processes as being a solution to Niger's desperate
situation, nor does it believe that the continuation of the situation
in Niger before the coup, as one of the most destitute and
impoverished sovereign nations in the world, was remotely tenable.

The people of Niger, already facing a desperate situation, are now
further threatened with the withdrawal of vital humanitarian aid from
the country in response to the coup, a move tantamount to a punitive
measure and essentially exploiting the aid as leverage, even though
such considerations should be entirely independent of the political
developments in the country.

This undermines the very notion that the provision of such aid should
only be conditional on whether or not there exists a humanitarian need
for it and that it can be provided safely, as opposed to being used as
a tool of punishment by Western powers.

However the political situation in Niger unfolds, the humanitarian
needs of the people must be addressed independently of any
geo-political considerations.

Liberation calls upon the United Nations to make every effort to
urgently broker a peaceful solution to the political crisis in Niger
and to call upon all parties to immediately restore humanitarian aid
to one of the world’s poorest nations, as well as guard against any
conflagration of the situation through the armed intervention of
foreign powers which could serve as the precursor to civil war and yet
another intractable conflict in this already suffering region of
Africa.

Liberation explicitly rejects the notion of an armed intervention,
under any pretext, or of foreign interference in the sovereign affairs
of Niger, whether by former colonial power France, the US, EU, or
Nato, or other countries in the region with their own woeful track
records when it comes to human rights or democratic governance. Issues
pertaining to the governance of Niger and the course of its future
development are the sole remit of the long-suffering people of Niger.

Liberation calls for a political resolution of the current crisis,
aided and brokered under the auspices of the UN, which puts front and
centre the needs of the Nigerien people as well as urgently addressing
the dire humanitarian situation which has been allowed to go on
unchecked in Niger for far too long.

_Find out more about Liberation and how you can support our work at
Liberationorg.co.uk_

* Niger
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* France
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* European Union
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* NATO
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* U.S. military policy
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