Thank you Sage Rat for the article! The conditions are unfortunately good for invasion. I hope the locals are able to get out of the way so they don’t end as collateral.
Here’s a longish article from the Wall Street Journal about how the coup unfolded. Executive summary: the elected President Bazoum was contemplating replacing the head of the Presidential Guard, so the Presidential Guard replaced him instead. The army sat on the sidelines to see who would come out ahead.
Niger Coup: How the U.S. Fumbled and Gave Russia an Opening - WSJ
Bazoum was seen as close to France, so the supporters of the coup are quite anti-French.
Some other African states are anxious to restore the President, probably because they see the same thing happening to them. There have been coups in Mali, Burkina, and Guinea in recent years. But it’s unlikely that it will go so far as an invasion. The deadline set by ECOWAS has come and gone.
As for what the U.S. should do in response, really not much.
I was astonished to learn there are 1100 American troops stationed there, and a humongous airbase. I’m sure, like there are Italian spices in Lasagna, there is a compelling national interest there somewhere.
Humongous is a bit of an exaggeration. But the USA has been there a good long time:
This is 4 years old:
There is lots of interesting info in that article beyond just the headline photo.
I could see I had the wrong idea that Niger could be invaded but maybe more infiltrated. Maybe infiltrated would suggest outside groups coming into a nation in some military groups. I’m trying to describe with a verb what the foreign groups are doing when they come into Niger.
I could contrast the USA having a permissive agreement with Niger politicians to have bases there while any other foreign national groups going into Niger would be said to do what? Overall I’m trying to differentiate Russia or the Wagner group’s influence from Niger’s neighbors with a little accuracy.
4 years is a long time, you’d be surprised, amazed maybe, at what government contractors can do. When we landed in a wheat field in Kosovo, we set up GP medium tents. There was nothing there except a dozen helicopters. It grew within a year or so into what is now called Camp Bondsteel, and about eleventy gazillion dollars worth of “defense spending” it grew into this sprawling base.
Quite right that in 4 years of dedicated effort the US can build a pretty impressive expeditionary airfield. Having just looked, I would not want Camp Bondsteel mad at me if I lived within a couple hundred miles of it.
In an earlier era I saw the same thing at what’s now Palmerola international airport. But which was a dirt strip for USAF C-130s the first time I was there.
But per 2023 imagery of Niger 201, it looks just as it did in the 2019 pix of the article I cited. A single 6,000 foot runway, no taxiways, and 3 drone hangars.
Perhaps you and I are talking about two different US military facilities in Africa. Ref my cite to The Drive, there’s a pin map farther down of all US military facilities in Africa, again as of 2019. It’s a lot of pins.
It looks from the latest news that the junta is in a standoff with Western negotiators. I don’t know too much about Niger so looked it up at the library. In our city’s system, there’s only one book about Niger. It’s no wonder I had never studied more of it than a little geography in seventh-grade.
So I read the book and it reminded me how tenuous some economies are in general. I try to reassure my nephews about the soundness of economics and finance. But sometimes it takes only half-a-dozen major factors to cause downturn in Canada, Mexico, France, South Africa or other solid nations.
For an economy like Niger it probably takes even fewer significant events to tank an economy. Though I’ve been to Ethiopia and Russia on trips and came to see some of the locals there as equals, I still have sympathy for a business owner or even industrial sector in Niger.
There was an extremely detailed news story about Niger by Courtney Kube of NBC today. I’m trying to cite it here.
Was it this story?
Thank you Kimstu! That was what I read. It’s a conplex article. Even though the headline suggested some people didn’t see instability before the coup, in the article it said there was similar regional instabililty.
In the San Diego Union Tribune yesterday they had an article too. They tslked about the junta possibly charging the democratically-elected president with treason. They also talked about how four million of the Niger people receive humanitarian aid that is hard to get now.
They must think their Uncle is Cray-Cray.
Well my sister and BIL have blatently told me to have these conversations with them. ‘Eric tell them why your pills cost so much.’ I’ll get out my white-board and Etch a Sketch.’
Abdel-Fatau Musah, the bloc’s commissioner for political affairs, peace and security, said on Friday that troops of 11 states in the 15-member body were “ready to go” if diplomatic efforts failed to resolve the crisis. […] “The D-day is also decided. We’ve already agreed and fine-tuned what will be required for the intervention.”
From: Turkey's Erdogan opposes military intervention in Niger over coup
Sage Rat, thank you for your article! It sure is a good update to read that.
There was apparently a presidential coup in Gabon this week - NBC just put out an article about it and said their French colonial backgrounds were related in both countries.
Here’s an update about the latest development after Niger’s coup. ECOWAS is lifting sanctions against the leaders of last year’s coup in Niger. I feel sad when a democratically elected govt collapses but realize it’s a luxury to most people in the world.
I’ve thought of visiting Niger but am still figuring out if it’s cool for Americans to be there right now. I 've been to other countries there but not Niger yet.
I’ll bet the relationship to the war in Ukraine isn’t obvious since it takes putting in context for a person like me.
Russian military trainers arrive in Niger as relations deteriorate with the U.S.