The United States of America has threatened military action against the military leaders of Niger if the Junta fails to return power to the democratically elected president of the country.
This was stated in a special briefing on Niger via teleconference on Tuesday by Victoria Nuland, the US acting Deputy Secretary of State.
She noted, “There is still a lot of motion here on many sides with regard to where the governance situation will go.
“So, we will be watching that closely, and there are a number of regional meetings coming up and consultations with allies and partners that we need to make.
“So we’ll be watching the situation, but we understand our legal responsibilities, and I explained those very clearly to the guys (Niger junta) who were responsible for this and that it is not our desire to go there, but they may push us to that point, and we asked them to be prudent in that regard and to hear our offer to try to work with them to solve this diplomatically and return to constitutional order.”
Nuland further disclosed that President Joe Biden has been in constant touch with President Bola Tinubu, the ECOWAS Chairman, as well as many other European allies over what is happening in the West African country.
“He’s also been in regular touch with President Tinubu of Nigeria, who is currently head of ECOWAS, with AU Chairperson Faki, and with a number of European allies with whom we work in Niger, particularly on counterterrorism.
“And all of this has been rooted in our shared values, including the sense of democracy, which was why it was so difficult, and remains difficult, to see the current challenge to the democratic order, which began on July 26,” she stressed.
It will be recalled that ECOWAS has decided to leave military options open for Niger if the coup plotters do not hand over power to democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and return to their barracks. ECOWAS also threatened to halt all trade with Niger, including banking and electricity supply, as well as close the country’s airspace.
On July 27, Mr. Bazoum was removed from office. Soldiers promptly declared an indefinite curfew and border closures.
Among other things, the Juntas stated that their reason for taking over power was to “put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance”.
