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The sudden toppling of the EU’s primary ally within the Sahel has punctured Western schadenfreude on Russia’s Africa-summit flop.
In a single day information on Thursday (27 July) that Niger’s military had eliminated president Mohamed Bazoum from energy took Europe without warning, coming shortly after EU international affairs chief Josep Borrell visited Niamey to reward Bazoum’s pro-democratic reforms.
“The HRVP [Borrell] was in Niger final week, all the things was going properly with the mission, all the things was happening monitor,” his spokeswoman mentioned, referring to an EU military-training mission there.
When requested by press in Brussels if EU-trained troopers may need taken half within the putsch, the spokeswoman mentioned the EU mission started work solely in February and its coaching programs “haven’t but began”.
When requested if any international actors had been concerned within the coup, she added: “We’re at present evaluating the scenario … [things are] nonetheless very fluid”.
The EU, France, the UK, and the US condemned the putsch and urged troopers to free Bazoum.
“We advise British nationals to stay indoors,” the UK international workplace mentioned in flash safety recommendation to expats.
The US state division mentioned: “Presently town is calm. We advise everybody to restrict pointless actions, and keep away from all journey alongside Rue de la République [a central boulevard in Niamey]”.
If the coup succeeds, it’s going to signify a significant setback for Western international locations making an attempt to take care of political and army affect within the area.
France had just lately moved its centre of operations to Niger after Mali kicked out worldwide troops combating jihadists within the Sahel.
The strategic implications had been “very severe … not just for the French and EU but in addition the US, which maintains a drone base there [in Niger]”, mentioned Alex Vines, an Africa knowledgeable at British think-tank Chatham Home.
“The putschists of their assertion final night time mentioned all current [international] agreements can be revered — however informed exterior companions to maintain their distance relating to the coup,” he added.
The Niger shock comes amid a geopolitical tug-of-war between the West and Russia in Africa.
Niger borders Libya and Mali, the place Russian mercenary group Wagner has its largest numbers of fighters. It additionally borders Burkina-Faso, the place Wagner is making an attempt to construct a presence.
The coup coincided with Russian president Vladimir Putin’s summit with 17 African leaders in St Petersburg the identical day.
Borrell’s spokeswoman famous on Thursday that far fewer leaders got here to Russia than throughout Putin’s final Africa summit in Sochi in 2019.
She additionally mentioned the EU had extra to supply Africa than Russia by way of support and funding.
But when that was the case, St Petersburg appeared like a greater place than Brussels wherein to plot intrigues on Niger’s future this week.
Putin’s visitors included Mali and Burkina-Faso junta leaders Assimi Goita and Ibrahim Traore.
The Wagner boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was additionally there, in keeping with a photograph of him shaking palms with the protocol chief of the president of the Central African Republic, which was posted on social media, despite the fact that Wagner had just lately mutinied in opposition to the Kremlin.
For Chatham Home’s Vines, Russia had no hand within the Niger occasions.
“In no way, seems to be like that is totally pushed by native politics,” he informed EUobserver.
“We sit up for a speedy decision of this inside political disaster within the curiosity of restoring civil peace for the good thing about our pleasant Nigerien individuals. We depend on the speedy launch of president M. Bazoum,” the Russian international ministry additionally mentioned.
However Bazoum had complained in Might about anti-Western Wagner propaganda whereas on a state go to to London.
And a few Niger coup supporters additionally waved Russian flags and chanted anti-French slogans, Reuters reported, prompting hypothesis.
“That is Wagner modus operandi throughout,” mentioned Joana de Deus Pereira, a Russia specialist at British defence think-tank the Royal United Providers Institute.
The low attendance on the Africa summit is likely to be a PR failure for Russia, however it will be a mistake to underestimate Putin’s tenacity, she added.
“For Putin, this [Africa campaign] is a marathon, likely an Iron Man race — you wrestle, you struggle, you endure,” she mentioned.
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