CANBERRA, Australia: Political instability in Niger resulting from a military takeover that deposed the president this week threatens the economic support provided by Washington to the African nation, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Saturday.
Members of the Niger military announced on Wednesday they had deposed democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and on Friday named Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani as the country’s new leader, adding Niger to a growing list of military regimes in West Africa’s Sahel region.
Blinken, who is in Australia as part of a Pacific tour, said the continued security and economic arrangements that Niger has with the US hinged on the release of Bazoum and “the immediate restoration of the democratic order in Niger.”
“Our economic and security partnership with Niger — which is significant, hundreds of millions of dollars — depends on the continuation of the democratic governance and constitutional order that has been disrupted by the actions in the last few days,” Blinken said. “So that assistance, that support, is in clear jeopardy as a result of these actions, which is another reason why they need to be immediately reversed.”
Blinken stopped short of calling the military actions in Niger a coup, a designation that could result in the African country losing millions of dollars of military aid and assistance.
Speaking in Brisbane, Blinken said he had spoken with President Bazoum on Saturday but did not provide details. He cited the support of the African Union, the Economic Community of West African States and other regional entities in trying to bring an end to the unrest.
“The very significant assistance that we have in place that’s making a material difference in the lives of the people of Niger is clearly in jeopardy and we’ve communicated that as clearly as we possibly can to those responsible for disrupting the constitutional order and Niger’s democracy,” Blinken said.
Blinken said the US Embassy in Niger had accounted for the safety of all staff members and their families, while issuing a security alert advising US citizens in the country to limit unnecessary movements and avoid areas impacted by the coup.
The military group that conducted the coup, calling itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, said its members remained committed to engaging with the international and national community.
“This is as a result of the continuing degradation of the security situation, the bad economic and social governance,” air force Col. Major Amadou Abdramane said in the video released by the coup leaders Wednesday. He said aerial and land borders were closed and a curfew was in place until the situation stabilized.
Bazoum was elected two years ago in Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from France.
Niger is seen as the last reliable partner for the West in efforts to battle jihadis linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group in Africa’s Sahel region, where Russia and Western countries have vied for influence in the fight against extremism.
France has 1,500 soldiers in the country who conduct joint operations with Niger’s military, while the US and other European countries have helped train the nation’s troops.
Blinken says US economic support for Niger is at risk as military takeover threatens stability
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Blinken says US economic support for Niger is at risk as military takeover threatens stability
- Blinken stopped short of calling the military actions in Niger a coup, a designation that could result in the African country losing millions of dollars of military aid and assistance
Philippines builds defense partnerships amid growing China aggression
- Island country forged new pacts with Japan, the UAE, Canada, Germany in past year
- Manila sees China’s maritime expansion as ‘quintessential security threat,’ expert says
MANILA: The Philippines and Japan have signed a new defense pact, adding to a growing list of security cooperation Manila has been forging with partner countries as it faces a growing Chinese presence in the disputed South China Sea.
Philippine-Japan security ties have strengthened in recent years over shared concerns in the region, with the two countries signing a landmark military pact in 2024, allowing the deployment of their forces on each other’s soil for joint military drills. It was Japan’s first such pact in Asia.
The new defense agreement — signed by Philippine Foreign Secretary Theresa Lazaro and Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi in Manila on Thursday — is a follow-up to their 2024 pact, and would allow tax-free, reciprocal provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces conduct joint training and disaster relief operations.
The security partnership is aimed at boosting deterrence against China, experts say.
“The latest defense pact with Japan is not only significant but also existential (as) a strong deterrence to China’s growing military size and ambition in the string of islands of the first island chain that includes Japan and the Philippines,” Chester Cabalza, founding president of the International Development and Security Cooperation think tank, told Arab News.
The Philippines, China and several other countries have overlapping claims in the disputed South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which billions of dollars worth of goods pass each year.
Beijing has maintained its expansive claims of the area, despite a 2016 international tribunal ruling that China’s historical assertion to it had no basis.
Japan has a longstanding territorial dispute with China over islands in the East China Sea, while Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy ships have been involved in a series of tense incidents in the South China Sea in recent years.
“The imminent threat to maintain a status quo of peaceful co-existence in the region brings a shared responsibility for Manila and Tokyo to elevate strategic partnership to achieve this strategic equilibrium,” he said.
Motegi said he and Lazaro “concurred on continuing to oppose unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion in the East and South China seas,” in a clear rebuke of Beijing’s increasing assertiveness, without naming China.
The Philippines sees China’s maritime expansion as “the quintessential security threat,” said international studies expert Prof. Renato De Castro.
“So, of course, we rely on our efforts to build up our armed forces in terms of the comprehensive archipelagic defense operation,” he told Arab News.
The Philippines has a mutual defense treaty with the US, which the allies signed in 1951. While both governments have continued to deepen defense cooperation in recent years, Manila has also been building security partnerships with other countries.
The Philippines has signed two defense deals this month alone, including a Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation with the UAE, its first such deal with a Gulf country.
Last year, Manila signed military pacts with New Zealand and Canada, which sets the legal framework to allow military engagements, including joint drills, in each other’s territory. Both agreements still need to be ratified by the Philippine Senate to take effect.
The Philippines also signed a defense cooperation arrangement with Germany in May, aimed at boosting joint activities.
