The Diplomat
The European Union will suspend “indefinitely and immediately” all security cooperation and budget support to Niger following last week’s coup and the installation of authorities that Brussels “does not and will not recognise”, according to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
In a statement on Saturday, Borrell recalled that the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, was democratically elected and therefore “remains the only legitimate president of Niger” and not the country’s self-proclaimed new leader, the head of the Presidential Guard, General Omar Abdourahmane Tchiani.
Borrell called for the “unconditional and immediate” release of the president, who is currently in detention, and held “the coup plotters responsible for his safety and that of his family”. He denounced the suspension of the Constitution announced by General Tchiani and the dissolution of democratic institutions as decisions that weaken “the state and the people of Niger, whose peace, stability and security must be preserved” and insisted on a “very clear call for the full and complete restoration, without delay, of the constitutional order”.
Borrell declared himself ready to support any decision by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), including the adoption of sanctions. “This attack attack on the integrity of the Republican institutions of Niger will not leave consequences for the association and cooperation between the European Union and Niger in all aspects,” added.
At the Brussels announcement thread, France, main partner of European Niger before the State, equally announced the suspension “with immediate effect” of “all its actions to help the development and budget support Niger”.
The Spanish Foreign Ministry also announced in a brief statement on its website that it “suspends with immediate effect its bilateral development cooperation with Niger” and calls for “the return to Niger’s constitutional order and the release of the democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum”.
