West African leaders threatened military action against the junta that carried out a coup in Niger, as protesters carrying Russian flags stormed the French embassy.
The U.S. and France, which have troops stationed in Niger, have called for calm but strongly condemned the coup, along with much of the international community.
The military junta, now calling itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland, announced on Wednesday that it had captured democratically-elected President Mohamed Bazoum and removed his government from power, citing national security and corruption. He has been able to speak with international leaders and on Monday met with Chad's President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno at the presidential palace as part of Déby's mediation mission to the capital on behalf of ECOWAS, in which he also met with the coup leaders.
On the other hand, Wagner Group mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who took up arms against the Kremlin in June and whose private military organization has extensive interests in Africa, reportedly welcomed the coup in a recording posted to Telegram from a Wagner-affiliated group. "For France and the U.S., Niger is a key security partner in fighting Islamist militancy in the Sahel and Gulf of Guinea. For Europe, Niger has been a bulwark to control African migration flows, as well as an important source of uranium."
Paris has not expressed any desire for military intervention and the junta offered no evidence to support its claims. The French foreign ministry on Monday said that the only authority it recognizes in Niger is that of Bazoum, according to Reuters, implying that Paris would not have authorized strikes at the request of other government officials.The centering of former colonial power France in the crosshairs of military juntas is becoming a regular theme underpinning regional coups.
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