Niger Republic junta leaders have blocked a senior US official, Victoria Nuland from meeting the country’s elected President Mohamed Bazoum.
On 26 July 2023, a coup d'état occurred in
Niger when the country's presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum,
and presidential guard commander General Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed
himself the leader of a new military junta. Presidential guard forces closed
the country's borders, suspended state institutions, and declared a curfew.
This was the fifth military coup d'état since
the country gained independence from France in 1960, and the first since 2010.
The coup was widely condemned by the international community and by the West
African regional bloc ECOWAS, which is currently considering military
intervention in the country
Nuland, who is the undersecretary of state
said she met with the Nigerien military authorities on Monday, August 7, and
that Bazoum is under “virtual house arrest”.
She also described the mutinous officers as
unreceptive and unwilling to heed US calls to return the country to civilian
rule.
“They were quite firm about how they want to
proceed, and it is not in support of the constitution of Niger,” Nuland told
reporters.
She characterised the conversations as
“extremely frank and at times quite difficult.”
She spoke after a two-hour meeting in Niger´s
capital, Niamey, with some leaders of the military takeover of a country that
has been a vital counterterrorism partner of France and the US.
The meeting was with Gen. Moussa Salaou
Barmou, a U.S.-trained officer, and three of the colonels involved in the
takeover.
The coup´s top leader, former presidential
guard head Abdourahamane Tchiani, did not meet with the Americans.
In speaking to junta leaders, Nuland said,
she made “absolutely clear the kinds of support that we will legally have to
cut off if democracy is not restored.”
If the U.S. determines that a democratically
elected government has been toppled by unconstitutional means, federal law
requires a cutoff of most American assistance, particularly military aid.
She said she also stressed U.S. concern for
the welfare of President Mohamed Bazoum, who she said was being detained with
his wife and son.
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