Africa’s latest coup that terminated a democratically elected government in West Africa’s Niger may have yet again found support in a very usual quarter. That is the Kremlin, and this is happening while African leaders fiddle in Russia in a dance of shame.
There is not yet any official statement from the Kremlin in support of the coup in Niger, but as we all know, Russia is masterful in the execution of a piece of this nature. The suspicion of “the hand of Essau” may not be farfetched if yesterday’s demonstration in the Nigerien capital is taking into consideration.
The military junta in Niger that overthrew the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum last week got their supporters on the street of Niamey, Niger’s capital on Sunday. They were there sending a message to the world and particularly to ECOWAS leaders.
The protesters were on the street to show their solidarity with the coup and with the coup plotters by extension. However, one major message was very clear – “Russia on our mind, they got our back”. The protesters were conspicuously waving the national flag of Russia to drive this point home.
This they did, while denouncing France, Niger’s former colonial power. It was reported in the press that a sign plaque of the embassy of France was destroyed in the process. The plaque was not only destroyed but was also replaced with the national flags of Russia and Niger.
The move was no doubt symbolic to say the least. While the Kremlin has not spoken officially to this development or even reacted to the coup at all, Russia is no doubt already the devil in the details.
The leader of Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin had immediately after the coup rose in full support of it, describing it as “long overdue”. He even went further to offer to send down his troops apparently in support of the military junta, though he ironically tagged his mission will be to “keep order” in Niger.
In 2022, the same Yevgeny Prigozhin cheered a similar coup in Burkina Faso, another African country where Russian interests now runs deep. Russia is now also effectively entrenched in Mali after a military coup there deposed the civilian authority. The coup plotters immediately severed relationship with France. They demanded that French troops helping to fight Islamic insurgents in the country should leave.
Russia’s Wagner Group immediately replaced the French troops, but rather than fight insurgents, their mission may have pivoted to business interests of Russia in the country.
Niger could yet be another big business opportunity for the Wagner military group, which has some lucrative contracts in Africa, where it pursues the interests of President Putin’s Russia.
Nigeria may be a small African country, but it pulls some very heavy weight in the production of uranium, which accounts about 7% of the global output. This will be a big catch for Putin who is engaged in escalating battle with the west over his inversion of Ukraine and near destruction of the country by his war machines.
Before now Niger has been fighting against extremism in the country and has been engaged in very serious battle with Islamic insurgents in Mali and Nigeria. Russia is not known to have made any contribution to Niger in this fight.
Talking about the contributions foreign countries have made in Niger, France alone contributed about 97 million Euros in aid to Niger in 2021. In the same years, the European Union pledged about half of this amount in development and military aide to help Nigerien miliary square up in the fight against Islamic insurgency.
All this notwithstanding, there are still people who have the conscience to protest on the street of the Nigerien capital openly denouncing France and in fact, the West, while solidarizing with Russia.
ECOWAS Comes to the Rescue
The West African bloc of Economic Community of West African States seem to have made a resolve to force the military junta to return power back to the democratically elected President Bazoum. This resolve was made very clear in the 7 days ultimatum to the coup leader.
It has also been reported that the Nigerian led ECOWAS have imposed border closures and airspace no fly zone on Niger. That is indeed very bold move by the regional bloc. The indication to use force by the 15-member Economic Community of West African States to “restore constitutional order” in Niger will surely be tested.
The idea of “Russian flag waving” by the supporters of the Niger coup plotters may well have been in response to this military threat from ECOWAS leaders. It could well be seen as a way of rattling the West African leaders and force them to rethink their threat.
This will not be the first time, ECOWAS rose in defence of democratically elected government or helped restore normalcy in a member country. The most celebrated was in Liberia in 1990 and in Siera Leon in 1997. #
But most recently was in The Gambia in January 2017. ECOWAS troops entered The Gambia after a long-time Gambian President Yahya Jammeh’s refused to hand over power to newly elected Adama Barrow after losing the election in 2016. Eventually he caved in when it became obvious to him that the ECOWAS troops were not bluffing.
It must be noted that in any of these previous occasions the geopolitical considerations were a lot different. Russia was not in the picture, at least not as conspicuously as it is today. Kremlin has not gone rogue as they are today, and they world was a bit normal than it is in the current time.
Should the military junta in Niger hold onto power, ECOWAS will have a decision to make. The West will also have a greater decision to make in their battle with Russia in Africa.
Importantly, Russia will again show her hands and once again make it clear what it wants in Africa. What Russia eventually does, will also show how African leaders who suck up his invites for Russia-Africa Summit have continued to make a fool of themselves in betrayal of the whole continent.
Currently, the French president is certainly not smiling. He has warned that his government “will not tolerate any attack on France and its interests” and that Elysee will “immediately” respond in kind to any attack.
