Niger junta says open to talks as Putin and US stress peace

Aug 15 (Reuters) – Niger’s junta said on Tuesday it was open to talks to resolve a regional crisis sparked by last month’s military coup, while Russia and the United States called for a peaceful solution.

Western powers and democratic African governments have called on the coup leaders to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, whom they have held in custody since July 26, but military leaders have refused and rejected negotiations.

West African army chiefs will meet Thursday and Friday in Ghana to prepare for a possible military intervention, which the main regional bloc, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has threatened to launch if diplomacy fails.

Any military intervention could further destabilize the impoverished Sahel, where an insurgency by groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State has displaced millions over the past decade and fueled a hunger crisis.

“We are in a transition process. We have explained the ins and outs, we reiterate our willingness to remain open and talk to all parties, but we have insisted on the need for the country to be independent,” said Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine. , who was appointed prime minister by the military last week.

He spoke after a trip to meet Chadian President Mahamat Deby, who staged his own coup in 2021. The takeover of Niger is the seventh in West and Central Africa in three years.

The coup and its aftermath have absorbed international powers with strategic interests in the region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to Mali’s military leader about the recent coup in neighboring Niger on Tuesday, a call likely to cause concern among Western governments fearing growing Russian influence in Africa’s Sahel region. Western.

Putin “emphasized the importance of a peaceful resolution of the situation for a more stable Sahel,” Mali’s interim president Assimi Goita said on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said US President Joe Biden’s administration was committed to a diplomatic resolution and said Niger was a partner it did not want to lose.

Singh declined to call the takeover a coup, but said it “certainly looks like a coup attempt”.

Meanwhile, ECOWAS has the support of the Central African regional bloc ECCAS in efforts to overthrow Niger’s coup and restore constitutional order, Nigerian President and ECOWAS Chairman Bola Tinubu said on Tuesday.

“I understand our people’s fear of any form of military action. We are working to maintain the sanctions and we are following them to the letter,” he said in a statement.

Russian influence in West Africa has grown while that of the West has waned since a series of coups began. Military leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso expelled troops from former colonial power France and strengthened ties with Moscow.

In Mali, the army government also brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner group, who have been accused of executing civilians and committing other serious crimes. human rights abuses.

Under Bazoum, Niger remained a Western ally. The United States, France, Germany and Italy have troops stationed there under agreements with the now deposed civilian government.

Putin has called for a return to constitutional order in Niger, while Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin welcomed the military takeover and offered his services.

Support for Russia appears to have risen in Niger since the coup, with junta supporters hailing russian flags at rallies and calling on France to withdraw.

Niger’s coup leaders have revoked a series of military agreements with France, though Paris shrugged, saying it did not recognize them as legitimate authorities.

Reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja; Additional reporting by Mahamat Ramadane in Chad and Idrees Ali in Washington; written by Nellie Peyton; edited by John Stonestreet, Estelle Shirbon, Alexandra Hudson, and Jonathan Oatis

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.