United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken extended steadfast support to Niger’s ousted leader Mohamed Bazoum Washington, and gave a warning to those detaining him that “hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance” was at risk, said the State Department on Friday (July 28).
Binken, who was completing a multi-nation Pacific tour, called Bazoum for the second time in a few days to offer America’s “unflagging support” after the leader was detained in a military coup, said department spokesman Matt Miller in a statement.
In another call to former Nigerien leader Mahamadou Issoufou, concern was expressed by Blinken over the ongoing detention of Bazoum and that “negotiations to ensure constitutional order in Niger were at an impasse.”
He said to Issoufou that he “regretted that those detaining Bazoum were threatening years of successful co-operation and hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance” to Niamey, and asked Issoufou to continue working on behalf of Bazoum, Miller said.
Washington had already stated that it may cease security and other co-operation with Niger, where as of now 1,000 US troops are stationed.
Blinken also held talks with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna regarding the situation in Niger, emphasising the “urgency of efforts to restore constitutional order” in the militant-hit West African nation.
On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron will chair a defence meeting on the Niger coup, said the presidency, after a powerful general announced himself the new leader.
There are some 1,500 troops of former colonial master France in the West African nation, which is among its last allies in the Sahel region after the French forces had withdrawn their troop earlier this year from neighbouring country Mali.
The putschists have been condemned by Macron “in the strongest possible terms” for deposing Mohamed Bazoum on Wednesday (July 26).
“This coup is completely illegitimate and profoundly dangerous, for Nigeriens, for Niger and for the whole region,” Macron stated, while also calling for the release of Bazoum and “the restoration of constitutional order”.
After Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger has become the third nation in the Sahel which has been undermined by militant attacks related to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
