A street vendor pushes his cart past burned cars outside the headquarters of president Bazoum’s Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism in Niamey on August 7, 2023. Niger’s military rulers were on Monday in defiance of an ultimatum to restore the elected government as the threat of possible military intervention was still on the table.
The second-ranking US diplomat met Niger’s military leaders on Monday to press to reverse a coup but reported no headway a day after an ultimatum from the West African bloc ECOWAS was ignored.
Niger has been critical to Western strategies to combat jihadist insurgencies that have plagued the Sahel since 2012, with France and the United States stationing around 1,500 and 1,000 troops in the country respectively.