Hundreds Hold Pro-Coup Rally In Niger Republic …As Biden Calls For Immediate Release Of Bazoum

Hundreds of people backing the coup in Niger Republic gathered yesterday for a mass rally in Niamey, Niger’s capital, with some brandishing giant Russian flags, according to AFP.
The demonstrators converged at Independence Square in the heart of the city, following a call by a coalition of civil society associations on a day marking the country’s 1960 independence from France.
Issiaka Hamadou, one of the demonstrators, said that it was “only security that interests us,” irrespective of whether it came from “Russia, China, Turkey, if they want to help us”.
According to him, “We just don’t want the French, who have been looting us since 1960, they’ve been there ever since and nothing has changed”.
France has some 1,500 troops in Niger in a bid to fight against jihadism in the Sahel.
“I have no job after studying in this country, because of the regime (of Bazoum), which is supported by France,” said one student who only gave his name as Oumar.
“All that has to go!”, he insisted.
The coup has triggered alarm bells in Western countries struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that flared in northern Mali in 2012, advanced into Niger and Burkina Faso three years later, and now threatens the borders of fragile states on the Gulf of Guinea.
Junta supporters in Niger said France has failed to shield them from the jihadists, whereas Russia would be a stronger ally.
Meanwhile, the US President Joe Biden, yesterday called for the immediate release of Niger’s elected President, Mohamed Bazoum, and for the country’s democracy to be preserved.
“I call for President Bazoum and his family to be immediately released, and for the preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy,” Biden said in a statement yesterday which was the 63rd anniversary of Niger’s independence.
“In this critical moment, the United States stands with the people of Niger to honor our decades-long partnership rooted in shared democratic values and support for civilian-led governance,” he said.
Bazoum, 63, was ousted a week ago by his own guard in a coup condemned by the United States, European nations and the United Nations.
“The Nigerien people have the right to choose their leaders,” Biden said, adding that, “They have expressed their will through free and fair elections — and that must be respected.”
Bazoum was feted in 2021 after winning elections that ushered in Niger’s first peaceful transition of power.
He took the helm of a country burdened by four previous coups since independence from France in 1960.