PARIS: The African Union asked Niger’s new junta to return to their bases and restore constitutional order in 15 days as the EU and former colonial ruler France Saturday suspended security cooperation and financial aid to the jihadist-hit country.
General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the elite Presidential Guard, on Friday declared himself the West African country’s new leader, two days after his forces confined democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum to his official residence.
Tiani said the putsch was a response to “the degradation of the security situation” linked to jihadist bloodshed as well as corruption and economic woes.
Niger’s neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso have both undergone two military coups since 2020, fueled by anger at a failure to quash long-running insurgencies by jihadists linked to the Daesh group and Al-Qaeda.
The African Union’s Peace and Security Council asked “military personnel to immediately and unconditionally return to their barracks and restore constitutional authority, within a maximum period of fifteen (15) days,” after a meeting Friday on the coup.
It condemned the coup in “the strongest terms possible” and expressed deep concern over the “alarming resurgence” of military overthrows in Africa.
France’s foreign ministry said it was suspending development aid and budgetary support to Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, while calling for “an immediate return to constitutional order” and Bazoum’s reinstatement.
The EU’s diplomatic chief Josep Borrell meanwhile said the bloc would not recognize the putschists and announced the indefinite suspension of security cooperation with Niger with immediate effect as well as budgetary aid.
Bazoum “remains the only legitimate president of Niger,” the EU statement said, calling for his immediate release and holding the coup leaders to account for the safety of the president and his family.
Borrell said the EU was ready to support future decisions taken by West Africa’s regional bloc, “including the adoption of sanctions.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken offered Niger’s ousted leader Washington’s steadfast support and warned those detaining him that they were “threatening years of successful cooperation and hundreds of millions of dollars of assistance.”
Leaders from the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc will meet on Sunday in the Nigerian capital Abuja to discuss the coup.
French President Emmanuel Macron was due to chair a meeting of his Defense and National Security Council on the coup on Saturday afternoon, the presidency said.
France has 1,500 soldiers in Niger, while the United States has around 1,000 troops there.
Tiani, 59, has shunned the limelight despite a stellar military career which has seen him lead the 700-member presidential guard since 2011.
Sources close to Bazoum told AFP that he had been considering replacing Tiani as the head of the elite unit and that relations between the two men had deteriorated in the past months.
Landlocked Niger often ranks last in the UN’s Human Development Index, despite vast deposits of uranium.
It has had a turbulent political history since gaining independence in 1960, with four coups as well as numerous other attempts — including two previously against Bazoum.
The 63-year-old has been one of a dwindling group of elected presidents and pro-Western leaders in the Sahel as juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso turn away from traditional allies and toward Russia.
EU, France suspend cooperation and aid to Niger after coup
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EU, France suspend cooperation and aid to Niger after coup
- French President Emmanuel Macron, while visiting Papua New Guinea on Friday, strongly condemned the coup
National security trial for Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil organizers to open
- Three government-vetted judges will preside over the trial, which is expected to last 75 days
HONG KONG: Two pro-democracy activists behind a group that for decades organized a vigil that commemorated people killed in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 will stand trial on Thursday, in another landmark case brought under a China-imposed national security law that has practically crushed protests in the semiautonomous Chinese city.
Critics say their case shows that Beijing’s promise to keep the city’s Western-style civil liberties intact for 50 years when the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997 has weakened over time. But the city’s government said its law enforcement actions were evidence-based and strictly in accordance with the law.
Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were charged with incitement to subversion in September 2021 under the law. They are accused of inciting others to organize, plan or act through unlawful means with a view to subvert state power, and if convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
A third leader of the group, Albert Ho, is expected to plead guilty, his lawyer said previously. This might result in a sentence reduction.
Before sunrise, dozens of people were in line outside the court building to secure a seat in the public gallery under a cold-weather warning.
Tang Ngok-kwan, a former core member of the alliance, has been queuing since Monday afternoon. He said he wanted to show support for his former colleagues in detention.
“They use their freedom to exchange for a dignified defense,” he said. “It’s about being accountable to history.”
Former pro-democracy district councilor Chan Kim-kam, a former vigil-goer and also Chow’s friend, stayed awake the whole night outside the building.
“We need to witness this, regardless of the results,” she said.
Trial expected to last 75 days
Three government-vetted judges will preside over the trial, which is expected to last 75 days. Videos related to the alliance’s years of work will be part of the prosecution evidence.
Chow, also a lawyer defending herself, tried to throw out her case in November, arguing the prosecution had not specified what “unlawful means” were involved. But the judges rejected her bid.
The judges explained their decision on Wednesday, saying the prosecution made it clear that “unlawful means” meant ending the Chinese Communist Party’s rule and violating the Chinese constitution. The prosecution accused the defendants of promoting the call of “ending one-party rule” by inciting people’s hatred of and disgust over the state’s power, the judges said.
The prosecution, they said, had pointed to the defendants’ media interviews and public speeches related to the alliance to sustain the group’s operation and promote that call to others after the security law took effect in June 2020. Although the scope of the charge was relatively wide, the prosecutors had provided sufficient details for the defendants, they added.
The court will not allow the trial to become a tool of political suppression in the name of law, the judges said.
Prosecutors are expected to detail their case this week.
Urania Chiu, lecturer in law at Oxford Brookes University, said the case goes to the heart of freedom of expression.
“The prosecution case hinges on the argument that the Alliance’s general call for ‘bringing the one-party rule to an end’ constitutes subversion without more, which amounts to criminalizing an idea, a political ideal that is very far from being actualized,” she said.
Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director, alleged the case was about “rewriting history and punishing those who refuse to forget the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown.”
Alliance’s disbandment a blow to civil society
The alliance was best known for organizing the only large-scale public commemoration of the 1989 crackdown in China for decades. Tens of thousands of people attended it annually until authorities banned it in 2020, citing anti-pandemic measures.
After COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the park was occupied instead by a carnival organized by pro-Beijing groups. Those who tried to commemorate the event near the site were detained.
Before the alliance voted to disband in September 2021, police had sought details about the group, saying they had reasonable grounds to believe it was acting as a foreign agent. The alliance rejected the allegations and refused to cooperate.
Chow, Tang, another core member of the alliance were convicted in a separate case in 2023 for failing to provide authorities with information on the group and were each sentenced to 4 1/2 months in prison. But the trio overturned their convictions at the city’s top court in March 2025.
Chow, Lee and Ho have been in custody, awaiting the trial’s opening, which has been postponed twice.
Beijing said the 2020 security law was necessary for the city’s stability following the 2019 protests, which sent hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets.
The same law has convicted dozens of other leading pro-democracy activists, including pro-democracy former media mogul Jimmy Lai last month. Dozens of civil society groups have closed since the law took effect.
