Tchiani took over the presidency. Media reported that President Mohamed Bazoum was held in his palace in Niamey by the Presidential Guards who are constitutionally supposed to protect him.
Regional leaders, western powers, and captains of multilateral institutions attempted to organise a swift mediation mission to try to prevent a coup. It seems like the mediation did not work! This is explained by the appearance of a group of soldiers in Niger’s National Television late Wednesday.
Reading from a statement, Colonel Amadou Abdramane, seated and flanked by nine other officers, said defense and security forces had decided:
“Put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance.”
Looking at what is happening in that region and the deteriorating relationship between France and its former colonies in West Africa, this coup raises critical questions, questions that need more than objective answers.
The presence of France is more than visible in Niger. France relocated its millitary bases in Niger after Mali and Burkina, under the leadership of millitary authorities, decide to order France to remove them.
According to Laessing, head of the Sahel program for Germany’s Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung think-tank,
“President Mohamed Bazoum has been the West’s only hope in the Sahel region. France, the U.S. and the EU have spent much of their resources in the region to bolster Niger and its security forces,”
One would then ask a few questions:
- Looking at Frence ‘s millitary presence in Niger, why did French soldiers not defend their alley?
- If it was possible for French soldiers to arrest a seating Ivorien President Laurent Bagbo in his palace and send to ICC, why is it impossible in Niger?
- Don’t coups in former French colonies signal the beginning of the end of France’s influence in its former colonies? Or the end of France-Afrique?
- Looking at how citizens are suffering throughout Africa, are these coups going to spread in other African regions?
- If the above is correct, what is the future of democracy in Africa?
The above questions aimed at igniting a conversation.
“Feruzi Ngwamba is an African and a victim of France’s influence in Africa in general and the Great Lakes Region in particular”
