Basics

The presidential guards of the democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum

have overthrown him. Niger, being the largest country in West Africa, used to be a leading example in the Sahel region for democracy, while its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso had already been succumbed by Military coups. Military wise, it hosts US and French military bases. The US state department described Niger as “important as a linchpin for stability in the sahel” and as a “reliable counter-terrorist partner”. Speaking this, Niger is an important partner against various Islamic Groups such as:

Islamic State or Al-Qaeda. 

Economically, Niger is rich! In uranium, Niger is producing 7% of all global supplies. The radioactive metal looms so large in the country's economy that one of the grandest thoroughfares in the capital, Niamey, is named the Avenue de l'Uranium. However, the Sahel region is a democratic  backsliding region in the center of Africa and also known as “unstable” and “turbulent”. 

Violent Islamist groups have gained ground by controlling territory and

conducting attacks in the tri-border region between Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

The mutinous soldiers have seen this worsening as a chance and reasoning for their

uprising, even though Niger handled the insurgencies far better than Burkina Faso

and Mali. The growing unrest has led some to believe that only harsh military

crackdowns can solve the problem, hence the popular support that the coup seems

to enjoy in some quarters. However, it is far from clear that a military junta would

have greater success in tackling the insurgents than the recently ousted government.

The takeovers in neighbouring countries have not made much difference.

Adding to the instability in the region, climate change is causing desertification to spread

southwards from the Sahara into the Sahel. Experts say temperatures in the Sahel

are rising faster than anywhere else in the world. In the region Wagner mercenaries

have been seen as an exercising force with a malign influence. Some supporters of

the coup have been seen to wave a Russian flag alongside Niger's flag. 

President Bazoum's government has been a partner to European countries trying to stop the

flow of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea, agreeing to take back hundreds of

migrants from detention-centers in Libya. He has also cracked down on human traffickers in what had been a key transit point

between other countries in West Africa and those further north.