The EU suspended security cooperation and financial support for Niger and declared that it will not recognize the leaders of a “putsch” that ousted the democratically elected president.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, called for President Mohamed Bazoum’s “unconditional” release from detention.
“This unacceptable attack on the integrity of Niger’s republican institutions will not remain without consequences for the partnership and cooperation,” Borrell said, confirming an “immediate cessation of budget support” and the suspension of “cooperation actions in the security field.”
The EU “does not recognize and will not recognize the authorities resulting from the putsch in Niger,” Borrell said.
Borrell’s statement came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “unflagging support” for Bazoum and warned that “hundreds of millions of dollars” of U.S. security and economic assistance to Niger was at risk if “democratic governance” was not restored.
Blinken said he had spoken to Bazoum on Saturday. The president is being held captive in his residence in the capital Niamey and the head of the presidential guards, General Abdourahmane Tchiani has declared himself the country’s leader.
Blinken, who is in Australia on a tour of the Pacific region, said U.S. financial and security backing for Niger was “clearly in jeopardy,” adding that this had been “communicated … as clearly as we possibly can to those responsible for disrupting the constitutional order and Niger’s democracy,” the Associated Press reported.
A former French colony, Niger had been considered an important ally to Western countries in the fight against Islamist militant groups in the Sahel.
The U.S. and the EU are also seeking to counter Russia’s influence in the region. The head of Kremlin-linked mercenary force Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed to have aided the rebels and characterized the coup as an anti-colonial independence movement.
The coup came on the eve of a major Russia-Africa summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. The chair of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned the actions of “certain members of the military” in Niger and the organization on Saturday called on forces to return to their bases within 15 days, the BBC reported.
Coup leaders said on Wednesday that their actions were taken to halt “the continuing degradation of the security situation [and] the bad economic and social governance” of the country. Borders have been closed and a curfew imposed.
