New Delhi: The African country of Niger was late last month taken over by the military in the eighth coup in the continent’s Sahel region since August 2020.
The Sahel region consists of the 10 countries of Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria, as defined by the United Nations.
After the military seized power, Niger’s president Mohamed Bazoum, who is believed to be an ally of the West, called for support from the US and the international community to end the coup, putting out an article in The Washington Post Thursday.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a bloc of 15 nations, also put out a statement demanding reinstatement of Bazoum within a week, adding that otherwise the bloc “would take all measures” to restore constitutional order.
In response, military leaders of the neighbouring countries of Burkina Faso and Mali pledged their support to the military leadership of Niger. Both nations have suffered coups and their military leadership is known to be backed by the Russian private military company, Wagner Group.
Burkina Faso and Mali warned that any armed intervention would be considered a “declaration of war” against their nations.
Experts, however, suggest the coup leaders are creating a “facade of solidarity” out of fear.
Samir Bhattacharya, senior research associate at Vivekananda International Foundation, explained to ThePrint: “Mali and Burkina Faso are outliers with little to no natural resources but Niger is uranium-rich. The US has its air-base in Niger. In a way, Niger is not the same (as other nations which fell to coups) and the West won’t let the Niger government fall so easily.”
“This has created tension for military leaders of neighbouring countries. If the coup plotters in one country get punished, they may be the next,” Bhattacharya added.
Rich with critical metal and mineral reserves such as uranium, copper, zinc, titanium and manganese, among others, the Sahel region remains crucial for world powers such as the US, France and Russia, which have all been reported to have a footprint there.
After detaining Bazoum, in fact, Niger coup leader general Abdourahamane Tchiani accused France of “attempting a military intervention” in the nation, which was a French colony (till 1960) along with Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Chad.
ThePrint looks at the “coup corridor” in Sahel and explains how it is becoming a space of political and economic proxy wars between world powers.
Also Read: Go beyond Africa — India’s digital public infrastructure should be taken to the West now
Plague of coups
A report by the United States Institute of Peace last week noted that the Sahel region has seen eight military takeovers (including the one in Niger) in six countries since August 2020.
The recent fall of Niger’s democratically-elected government has transformed this thread of countries — Sudan, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea — into the longest military-ruled corridor in the world.
Mali faced two consecutive coups in 2020 and 2021 which weakened the country, while in Guinea, military leaders used corruption and public anger to gain legitimacy for their takeover in 2021. Sudan and Chad too suffered military coups in 2021 while Burkina Faso saw two coups in 2022
Bhattacharya, quoted earlier, said: “Coups are contagious. When Mali fell, many observers warned about Burkina Faso, and when Burkina fell, many said it would be Niger’s turn. All these coups are spurred on due to frustrations about authorities’ failure to stem a rebel uprising in the Sahel region.”
The Sahel region has suffered violent extremism, unstable governments, poverty, climate disasters such as droughts and more for the past decade.
Since the Libyan civil war of 2011, the region has also become a breeding ground for extremist groups like the Islamic State and the al-Qaeda, among others.
While Sahel has much poverty and inequality, the deteriorating security situation is said to be one of the major reasons behind the coups.
“Many army personnel have died in insurgent attacks as they are neither well equipped nor trained to withstand such assaults. However, for the governments, it’s business as usual, and leaders are busy driving fancy cars and sending their children to expensive foreign schools. These are the root causes behind such military uprising,” Bhattacharya noted.
Among the countries of the Sahel region, Niger had, however, been relatively stable despite being one of the poorest nations of the world and despite facing four coups (excluding this year’s) since independence from France in 1960. A Sunni Muslim majority-nation, Niger was even reported to have witnessed a decline in terrorist activity in recent years.
Referring to a failed coup bid in Niger in 2021, Bhattacharya said: “Many forget that there was a coup attempt in Niger in March 2021, when a military unit tried to seize the presidential palace days before Bazoum, who had just been elected, was due to be sworn in.”
He added that “although the situation is still unclear, it appears that this time the military succeeded in their attempt to overthrow the Niger government”.
Increasing Russian influence
A February 2023 report by the Geneva-based think-tank Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime pointed out that Russia has rapidly increased its political and economic engagement in Africa in recent years, and the Wagner Group is its most effective form of engagement.
Wagner’s military engagement in Africa has expanded aggressively since late 2017, and it has deployed troops in countries such as Libya, Mali, Mozambique, Burkina Faso and Sudan while trying to expand in several other states, the report noted.
It added that in countries such as Mali and Libya, the Wagner Group had given military support to weak authoritarian governments to fight against extremist groups and insurgencies, and had provided political strategy to numerous African leaders across the continent, especially in Sudan.
Further, Russia and African states are alleged to be keeping the operations of the group under the shadows.
“International NGOs and the media have levelled a variety of accusations at the group: from the indiscriminate use of violence against civilians in its military engagements to disinformation campaigns, election-rigging and industrial-scale smuggling of natural resources,” said the report.
In late January 2023, the US government designated the group a “transnational criminal organisation”.
For Russia, ties with African states have also become crucial in the aftermath of its invasion of Ukraine which has left Moscow isolated on the global stage.
Last month, Moscow held the second edition of the Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg, where leaders from 17 of 54 African nations were reported to be in attendance.
While the summit was viewed as having “failed to deliver” due to the decline in number of attendees compared to the 2019 summit and the lack of a comprehensive deal on grains export, some experts called it an “achievement” for Russia.
Former ambassador Rajiv Bhatia told ThePrint: “The fact that Russia pulled off the summit in St Petersburg despite being embroiled in a war with Ukraine is an achievement. As many as 17 leaders from major African states like Ethiopia attended despite the fact that promises made in 2019 have not been implemented.”
“It shows growing Russian influence in the region,” he added.
Anti-West sentiment
Over the past decade, France had placed its troops in several countries in the Sahel, such as Mali in 2013 (Operation Serval) and Burkina Faso in 2014 (Operation Barkhane), as part of military agreements to combat extremist groups and bring stability to the region.
However, over the past few years, French troops have been driven out by coup leaders, and the nation itself has completed withdrawal operations from several nations.
Bhattacharya explained that with France out of the picture, Russia was “the automatic choice” for external support.
“Armed forces of these countries have little to no training to manage the vast areas of their territories and hence rely heavily on external powers to defend themselves, mostly France as their coloniser,” he said.
“As the Soviet Union had very good security relations with these African countries and Russia often supports them and votes against their sanctions during meetings of the United Nations, it becomes the automatic choice,” he added.
“Moreover, neither the US, China nor any other country is stepping up in support of these juntas,” Bhattacharya pointed out.
France is still accused of neo-colonialism and of exploiting the Sahel region’s natural resources, he observed, adding that “France was already unpopular among the masses. Now, military leaders are just exploiting the anti-French sentiment”.
Why Sahel region matters
While the US has tried to counter growing pro-Russian sentiment in the Sahel region by building relationships with countries like Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda, among others, Niger hold special significance for the West.
In 2019, the US set up a military drone base in Niger at a cost of $110-million, with a 6,200-foot runway for MQ-9 Reapers as well as manned aircraft, and stationed troops there.
The base was crucial as a surveillance hub for the US military as well as to combat extremist groups in the Sahel. With the fall of Niger last week, the US is no longer able to use the base, a report in Politico published 31 July noted.
It further called the coup a blow to US’ efforts to restrict groups like the ISIS and al-Qaeda in the region and as jeopardising Washington’s economic and security partnership with Niger as well as its uranium imports.
Another 31 July report in Politico said the Niger coup had raised fears, especially in France, over its potential impact on the import of uranium to power nuclear plants.
Niger supplies 15 per cent of France’s uranium needs and accounts for a fifth of the EU’s total uranium imports, it noted.
Roughly half of EU’s nuclear energy is produced just in France, according to World Nuclear News.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: World’s youngest workforce to rich resources–Africa is next big player in geopolitics