US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the Russian mercenaries Wagner Group are taking advantage of the political situation and unstable mood in Niger, writes the BBC.
Since the 26th of July, when the military junta overthrew the democratically elected president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, there have been protests in the country – both from supporters of the junta and defenders of the president. Information has now emerged that the coup organizers may have asked for help from the Wagnerites, who are in the neighboring country.
Blinken, however, stated that he did not think that the coup was instigated by Wagner’s group. The politician told the BBC:
“I think what happened, and what continues to happen in Niger was not instigated by Russia or by Wagner, but…
they tried to take advantage of it.”
The official added that this is like a repetition of what has already happened in other countries, where the Wagnerites have brought nothing but bad things.
Wagner’s group is believed to have deployed thousands of fighters in African countries and is accused of widespread human rights abuses. Despite all this, speculations are rife that Niger’s army has requested the help of mercenaries in the event of military intervention in Niger’s internal politics.
Bazoum, who is still detained, also spoke about concerns related to the influence of the Wagnerites in Africa.
At the moment, it is not known whether the mercenaries have entered Niger, however, on the 7th of August, the Telegram channel associated with the group, Gray Zone, published information that 1,500 Wagnerians had gone to Africa. It was not specified where exactly the mercenaries would be stationed. The leader of the Wagnerites, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a voice message published on Telegram, has invited the leaders of the military junta to contact him.
Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world. At the same time, Niger is the world’s seventh largest producer of uranium, used in the military industry and medicine.
In recent years, similar coups have also taken place in Niger’s neighboring countries, Mali and Burkina Faso.
They are both part of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), however, due to a change of power there, their activities in the bloc have been suspended. The leaders of Mali and Burkina Faso have gone to the capital of Niger to show their readiness to confront possible attempts by Western countries and ECOWAS to return Bazoum to power with military force. During the visit, the representative of the government of Mali stated that he wanted to remind about the negative impact that the NATO operation in Libya more than ten years ago had on the three countries that experienced a coup.
Niger’s military junta has refused to receive representatives of ECOWAS, the African Union, and the UN, who were supposed to arrive in Niamey on the 8th of August. The coup organizers have said that they cannot guarantee the safety of the officials because people are angry about the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS on Niger.
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