After President Mohamed Bazoum was held by the Presidential Guard in the nation’s capital Niamey on Wednesday, the suspected coup attempt in Niger drew the attention of world leaders.
Secretary of State of the United States Antony Blinken stated that he spoke with the president of Niger “earlier this morning and made clear that the United States strongly supports him as the democratically elected president of Niger. We demand that he be released right away. During a two-day tour, Blinken gave a speech during a joint press conference in New Zealand.
Benin’s President Patrice Talon would be going to Niger on a mediation mission, according to Bola Tinubu, the new leader of the regional organisation ECOWAS, who is also the president of Nigeria. Talon was in Abuja to meet with the president of Nigeria. It’s unclear if he will mediate on Tinubu’s behalf or that of ECOWAS.
Speaking before his departure, Talon said, “All means will be used, if necessary, to restore constitutional order in Niger, but ideally everything should happen in peace and harmony.”
“The situation is worrying enough that ECOWAS and President Tinubu, the President of Nigeria, a neighbor of Niger, with Benin, also a neighbor of Niger, take it seriously and want to act quickly,” Talon added.
Since being chosen to lead ECOWAS in July, Tinubu has fought for the restoration of democracy in the West African nations that are currently governed by military forces. Since 2020, three of the 15-nation bloc’s members have experienced five coups.
“Without democracy there’s no governance, there’s no freedom, there’s no rule of law. We will not allow coup after coup in West Africa sub-region,” Tinubu said in July.
