Victoria Nuland, the US Undersecretary of State, added that the rebel officers did not respond to US pressure to return the country to civilian rule.
“They were quite firm about how they wanted to proceed, and Niger’s constitution does not support that,” Nuland told reporters.
She described the talks as “very frank, and sometimes very difficult”.
Nuland spoke after a two-hour meeting in Niger’s capital, Niamey, with some of the coup leaders in a country that has been an important partner of the United States in the fight against terrorism.
“I made it very clear what kinds of support we would have to legally cut off if democracy is not restored,” Nuland said of speaking to the junta’s leaders.
She added, “If the United States categorizes the situation in Niger as ‘a democratically elected government that was overthrown by unconstitutional means’, then federal law requires that most US aid, especially military, be cut off.”
She stated that she also stressed Washington’s interest in the situation of President Muhammad Bazoum, who she said was being held with his wife and son.
Nuland’s meeting came with General Musa Salo Parmo, an officer who trained in the United States, and 3 other officers who participated in the coup, but she did not meet the coup leader, General Abd al-Rahman Tiani, the former commander of the Presidential Guard.
importance of Niger
- The coup, the seventh in West and Central Africa in 3 years, rocked the poorest Sahel region in the world.
- Given Niger’s uranium and oil wealth and its pivotal role in an ongoing war with militants in the Sahel region of Africa, the country is of economic and strategic importance to the United States, Europe, China and Russia.
- Niger is a landlocked country with an area more than twice the size of France and many flights to and from Africa pass through its airspace.
- Neither the time nor the manner in which any next round of negotiations with the military council will continue has been determined.
- The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has previously dispatched military forces to its member states in turmoil, had told the leaders of the July 26 coup to step down from power by Sunday or face possible military intervention, but the junta responded by closing the field. Air Force to Niger and vowed to defend the country.
#coup #leaders #Niger #refuse #prominent #diplomat #meet #countrys #elected #president