UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk today expressed grave concerns for the people of Niger who have been forced to endure even more misery following last month’s military coup, calling on the generals to immediately restore constitutional order.
Four U.S. Army special operations soldiers were killed in action during an ambush in Niger in October 2017, according to families of the fallen soldiers who said they were disrespected by the White House after their loved ones became part of a largely inexperienced and lightly-armed team that was outmatched by ISIS fighters who exploited bad decisions by American commanders.
Soldiers from the country’s presidential guard seized power and detained the country’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, on July 26, triggering international condemnation and the threat of a military incursion by neighboring West African nations.
“Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, extremely vulnerable to climate change. The people have already had been through so much hardship over the years,” Türk said. “Now the very people who they elected to build a pathway to end their destitution have been removed by force against the constitutional order and detained by the coup leaders. They must be released at once, and democracy restored.”
Nearly half of the population is mired in extreme poverty (living on less than $2.15 a day), and millions are reliant on humanitarian assistance. Since the coup, their situation has worsened. The landlocked country’s borders have been shut, trade has come to a standstill, there have been severe power cuts and food prices have risen.
A unitary state bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest, Niger is the largest landlocked country in West Africa. Over 80 percent of its land area lies in the Sahara. and its population of about 25 million is predominantly Muslim.
The economy is concentrated around subsistence agriculture, with some export agriculture in the less arid south, and export of raw materials, including uranium ore.
Niger faces challenges to development due to its landlocked position, desert terrain, low literacy rate, jihadist insurgencies, and the world’s highest fertility rates due to birth control not being used and the resulting rapid population growth.
Niger’s military leaders warned against any armed intervention in the country as West African leaders gathered in Nigeria’s capital for an emergency summit to decide on further actions to pressure the army to restore constitutional order.
Heads of state of the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the eight-member West African Economic and Monetary Union (known under the French acronym, UEMOA) could suspend Niger from its institutions, cut off the country from the regional central bank and financial market, and close borders.
An emergency meeting of West African nations on the coup in Niger was postponed indefinitely as members of ECOWAS expressed concerns over the health of detained President Mohammed Bazoum after they approved the deployment of a stand-by force to restore constitutional order.
Coup leaders in Niger accused French forces of freeing captured “terrorists” and breaching a ban on the country’s air space in an attempt to destabilize the country, but officials in France promptly rejected those allegations.
On 28 July, Abdourahamane Tchiani proclaimed himself as the president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland in an address on state television.
The leader of the military junta said the coup was undertaken to avoid “the gradual and inevitable demise” of the country, and claimed that Bazoum had tried to hide “the harsh reality” of the country, which he called “a pile of dead, displaced, humiliation and frustration”. Tchiani also criticized the government’s security strategy for its purported ineffectiveness but he did not give a timeline for a return to civilian rule.
The UN High Commissioner called for full and free access for humanitarian assistance, including goods, flights and personnel, to allow critical food, medical and other relief supplies into the country.
Türk also raised concerns about the announced decision by coup leaders to prosecute President Mohamed Bazoum and others working with him for high treason.
“This decision is not only politically motivated against a democratically elected President but has no legal basis as the normal functioning of democratic institutions have been cast aside,” he said.
A clampdown on civic space, including allegations of intimidation against journalists, bans on international media outlets and other restrictions impacting freedom of expression and public assembly, is also very worrying, the High Commissioner added.
Türk said the recent pattern of unconstitutional changes in government by military forces in West Africa – the Niger putsch is the sixth in the region in the past three years – is deeply troubling, and the costs are always borne by the local population.
“The very notion of freedoms in Niger is at stake,” said the High Commissioner, noting Bazoum’s victory in 2021 was the first democratic transition in the country’s coup-prone history. “Generals cannot take it upon themselves to defy – at a whim – the will of the people. Rule-by-gun has no place in today’s world.”
Two Army Green Berets, Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, 29, and Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, 35, and an Army support enabler, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson, 39, were killed in 2017 while fighting in a location near the remote village of Tongo Tongo, after they were surrounded during an attempt to withdraw from the fight.
Sgt. La David Johnson, 25, was killed later at a second location more than 700 yards away after he was unintentionally left behind while fighting alongside Nigerien partner forces. He remained missing for almost 36 hours before his remains were found.