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Tag: Coups d'etat

  • Many in Niger are suffering under coup-related sanctions. Junta backers call it a worthy sacrifice

    Many in Niger are suffering under coup-related sanctions. Junta backers call it a worthy sacrifice

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    NIAMEY, Niger — Hamsa Diakite can’t remember the last time her family of eight had a good meal.

    She once sustained them by selling fried bread until a coup in Niger three months ago resulted in sanctions against the West African nation, squeezing incomes in one of the world’s poorest countries and leaving millions like Hamsa struggling in the absence of aid.

    “Not only is food very expensive, but school supplies have also doubled in price. I also have to clothe my children and, above all, deal with their illnesses,” the 65-year-old said.

    After elite soldiers toppled Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, the country faced economic sanctions from West Africa’s regional bloc, ECOWAS, as well as Western and European countries including the United States that had provided aid for health, security and infrastructure needs.

    Neighbors shut their borders with Niger and more than 70% of its electricity, supplied by Nigeria, was cut off after financial transactions with West African countries were suspended. Niger’s assets in external banks were frozen and hundreds of millions of dollars in aid were withheld.

    The sanctions are the most stringent yet imposed by the regional bloc in an effort to stem the tide of coups in Africa’s volatile Sahel region, but they have had little or no impact on the junta’s ambition.

    Instead, they have hit hard Niger’s more than 25 million people.

    “We are quickly running out of funding, medicines. People are running out of food,” Louise Aubin, the United Nations resident coordinator in Niger, told The Associated Press. The junta has since told her to leave Niger over allegations the global body is blocking the country’s participation in its activities. The U.N. hasn’t commented on the allegations.

    Aubin said there had been “positive responses” from Niger’s neighbors to the idea of reopening borders for a humanitarian corridor, but didn’t give details.

    The world’s third least developed nation, according to U.N. estimates, Niger in 2021 received $1.77 billion in assistance, more than half for humanitarian aid as well as social infrastructure and services. All of it is now in jeopardy.

    Even the country’s 2023 budget, which was meant to be largely funded through the now-withheld external support from donors and loans, has been slashed by 40%.

    Rather than deter the soldiers who deposed Bazoum and keep him under house arrest, the sanctions have emboldened the junta. It has set up a transitional government that could remain in power for up to three years.

    That appears to have the support of many Nigeriens who felt the democratic government performed below their expectations, according to Seidik Abba, a Nigerien researcher and president of the International Center for Reflection for Studies on the Sahel think tank.

    Even as they feel the pinch of sanctions, many people on the streets of Niamey, the capital, say they support the coup. They dismiss concerns from the West, which saw Niger as its last remaining strategic partner in its counterterrorism fight in the Sahel.

    “The military sees that the people are supporting them, so they are using that support as a tool of legitimacy to hold on to power,” Abba said. For some junta supporters, the hardship brought by the sanctions is a worthy sacrifice, he added.

    “The love of homeland has made us forget the hard times that the entire country is going through,” said Abdou Ali, one supporter in the capital. “No one cares about this rise in the price of goods.”

    Aid workers and other observers working with the local population might disagree.

    “We are trying to respond to a catastrophic situation for the country,” said Dr. Soumana Sounna Sofiane, secretary-general of the pharmacists’ union in Niger.

    Many drugstores across Niger are running out of essential supplies at a time when the country faces public health emergencies including cholera. Desperate for a solution, pharmacies have started to give patients alternative medications to the ones they require.

    Food is also running short. Rising inflation and high food prices are “significantly impacting communities’ capacity to make ends meet,” the U.N. World Food Program’s country office said. The agency said 3.3 million people in Niger were facing acute food insecurity even before the coup.

    Niger is West Africa’s second largest country in landmass but it is landlocked, leaving it heavily reliant on trade with neighbors that now has paused. Food and drug supplies were among the top imported products last year.

    Now, at the border with Benin, trucks loaded with goods and relief items are lined up for several kilometers (miles) waiting to enter Niger, though some are in transit to other countries.

    More than 9,000 metric tons (9,920 tons) of WFP cargo, including specialized foods for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition, destined for Niger and neighboring Burkina Faso remain blocked between Benin and Togo, the U.N. food agency said.

    The U.N.’s resident coordinator fears that the goal of reaching at least 80% of 4.4 million targeted people with humanitarian aid in Niger this year could be in jeopardy.

    For many families, the sanctions hit them at the core.

    Nearly one in five Nigeriens are thought to be livestock breeders, according to the World Bank. They were able to export live animals worth $10 million to Nigeria in 2021 but are now desperate to find an alternative market.

    Across Niger, prices of basic items are surging. A 25-kilogram (55-pound) bag of rice, the main staple food, has jumped more than 50% in price since the sanctions were imposed.

    “Our stocks are running out overnight, as nothing crosses borders to supply us. When stocks run out, we will simply close our stores,” said Ambouta Idrissa, manager of a large cereal sales depot in Niamey.

    Other businesses shut down after incurring extra costs to run generators after Nigeria cut the power supply.

    For Nigeriens like Diakite, who struggles to feed her family, the main concern is keeping her children from going to bed on an empty stomach. She said her hopes fade with every passing day.

    “For how long can we hold on?” she asked.

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    Asadu reported from Abuja, Nigeria.

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  • The US declares the ousting of Niger’s president a coup and suspends military aid and training

    The US declares the ousting of Niger’s president a coup and suspends military aid and training

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    WASHINGTON — The United States on Tuesday formally declared the ousting of Niger’s democratically-elected president a coup d’etat, more than two months after mutinous soldiers seized power.

    Senior administration officials told reporters that the U.S. was taking action after exhausting all avenues to preserve constitutional order in the West African nation, including urging the military leaders to restore civilian rule within four months in compliance with the constitution. The coup designation comes with the suspension of counterterrorism assistance and military training as well as the pausing of certain foreign assistance programs worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

    “As time has passed it’s become clear that the (junta) officials that we’ve been dealing with did not want to abide by these constitutional guidelines and in fact they’ve told us that they’ve chosen to repeal that constitution and are in the process of creating a new draft with an uncertain timeline,” said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.

    U.S. Ambassador to Niger Kathleen FitzGibbon remains in the country and has been in contact with the military junta, called the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, or CNSP, to address U.S. staff protection and logistical needs.

    Any resumption of suspended assistance will require action by the CNSP to usher in democratic rule in a quick and credible timeframe and the release of ousted President Mohamed Bazoum who’s been under house arrest with his wife and son since July, the administration officials said.

    In August, Niger’s military rulers said they would restore constitutional order within three years and would decide on the country’s roadmap through the results from a national dialogue. They haven’t specified when Bazoum and his family will be released.

    Under U.S. law, a formal determination of a coup — the unconstitutional overthrow of a democratically elected government — typically results in a suspension of all non-humanitarian assistance, particularly military aid and cooperation, to the country concerned.

    The Biden administration had been delaying a coup decision because Niger plays a critical role in U.S. counterterrorism activity in Africa’s Sahel region and is seen by many countries as one of the last democratic nations in the region to partner with to counter jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali have had two coups each since 2020.

    The U.S. had made Niger its main regional outpost for wide-ranging patrols by armed drones and other counterterror operations against Islamic extremist movements that over the years have seized territory, massacred civilians and battled foreign armies. The bases are a critical part of America’s overall efforts in West Africa and Niger, hosting more than 1,000 troops in the country.

    In the months since July’s coup the U.S. has drawdown some of its troops and moved others from the air base near the capital Niamey, to another in Agadez about 560 miles (900 kilometers) away.

    While a sizeable footprint remains in the country, those troops are not conducting either partnered training or counterterrorism missions, administration officials said, raising questions as to why they were staying.

    The U.S. officials said that drone-based surveillance operations will continue and limited to force protection. Yet officials also acknowledged that troops needed to remain to monitor threats “more broadly in the region” to ensure the security vacuum in Niger doesn’t create an opportunity for terrorist cells to exploit.

    While the coup declaration comes with consequences, it reflects the reality of the situation, which indicates that the ousting of Bazoum is unlikely to be reversed, said Peter Pham, former U.S. special envoy for West Africa’s Sahel region and a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council.

    “The question then becomes, how do we best deal with this new reality?” he said.

    “Pragmatism will better serve the long-term interests of both the people of Niger and those of the United States. After all, who would likely benefit if the progress in counterterrorism and development cooperation of recent years was sacrificed altogether just to virtue signal? Jihadist and other malevolent actors, including geopolitical rivals and/or their proxies,” he said.

    ___

    Mednick reported from Cotonou, Benin.

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  • Attorneys for college taken over by DeSantis allies threaten to sue ‘alternate’ school

    Attorneys for college taken over by DeSantis allies threaten to sue ‘alternate’ school

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    Attorneys for New College of Florida, the traditionally progressive public liberal arts college that was taken over by allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his “war on woke,” is threatening to sue a group of former faculty members and students

    ByThe Associated Press

    October 1, 2023, 11:42 AM

    FILE – A student makes her way past the sign at New College of Florida, Jan. 20, 2023, in Sarasota, Fla. Attorneys for New College of Florida, the traditionally progressive public liberal arts college which was taken over by allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his “war on woke,” last week threatened to sue a group of former faculty members and students. It’s because they have formed an alternative online institute named “Alt New College” after departing the school following the takeover. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara, File)

    The Associated Press

    SARASOTA, Fla. — Attorneys for New College of Florida, the traditionally progressive public liberal arts college that was taken over by allies of Gov. Ron DeSantis as part of his “war on woke,” last week threatened to sue a group of former faculty members and students who have formed an alternative online institute named “Alt New College” after departing the school following the takeover.

    Alt New College says on its website that it was created to teach free and subsidized courses and to preserve the original educational philosophy of the school following the “hostile takeover” of New College of Florida earlier this year.

    “Over time, we hope to build an online institute that helps protect other communities facing similar attacks,” the Alt New College website said. “What is happening at New College of Florida is part of a national strategy to overtake public education and subvert a fundamental pillar of democracy.”

    Among those backing the effort are former New College provosts, Bard College in New York and PEN America, a free expression advocacy group.

    But attorneys for Sarasota, Florida-based New College said in a letter last Thursday that the online institute may be violating the school’s trademark and is likely to cause confusion. The attorneys demanded that Alt New College stop using the “New College” name.

    “These actions have caused and will cause damage and irreparable harm to New College,” the letter said.

    New College has become a focal point of a campaign by DeSantis, a candidate for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, to rid higher education in the state of what he calls left-leaning “woke” indoctrination on campuses.

    New trustees allied with DeSantis fired the school’s president in favor of former state House Speaker Richard Corcoran as interim president and scrapped the college’s small office of diversity, equity and inclusion. The trustees also have denied tenure to five professors despite criticism that such a move poses a threat to academic freedom.

    More than a third of the school’s faculty members have left following the change and scores of students also have transferred.

    The conservative takeover has gained national attention, prompting a visit in April by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California in which he sharply criticized DeSantis and the changes under way at New College.

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  • US suspends aid to Gabon after military takeover

    US suspends aid to Gabon after military takeover

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    The Biden administration has suspended most non-humanitarian aid to Gabon after a military takeover in the country last month that was at least the second this year in an African nation

    ByThe Associated Press

    September 26, 2023, 8:54 PM

    WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended most non-humanitarian aid to Gabon after a military takeover in the country last month that was at least the second this year in an African nation.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced a “pause in certain foreign assistance programs” to Gabon. pending a review of the circumstances that led to the ouster of the country’s former leader President Ali Bongo Ondimba.

    Blinken said in a statement that the suspension would not affect U.S. government operations in the oil-rich central African nation. The statement did not elaborate on what U.S.-funded programs would be affected or how much money would be placed on hold.

    Gabon is the second country to have seen a military takeover following the overthrow of the government in Niger earlier this year. The U.S. also suspended some aid to Niger but has yet to formally determine if what happened was a coup.

    “This interim measure is consistent with steps taken by the Economic Community of Central African States, the African Union, and other international partners, and will continue while we review the facts on the ground in Gabon,” Blinken said. “We are continuing U.S. government operational activities in Gabon, including diplomatic and consular operations supporting U.S. citizens.”

    Earlier this month, Gabon ’s new military leader was sworn in as the head of state less than a week after ousting the president whose family had ruled the nation for more than five decades.

    Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema took the oath in the presidential palace in Libreville. Oligui is a cousin of the ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, served as a bodyguard to his late father and is head of the Republican guard, an elite military unit.

    Bongo had served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there was widespread discontent with his family’s reign. Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but was quickly overpowered.

    The former French colony is a member of OPEC, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few — and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank. Its oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

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  • President Emmanuel Macron says France will end military presence in Niger and pull ambassador from country after coup

    President Emmanuel Macron says France will end military presence in Niger and pull ambassador from country after coup

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    President Emmanuel Macron says France will end military presence in Niger and pull ambassador from country after coup

    ByThe Associated Press

    September 24, 2023, 2:39 PM

    PARIS — President Emmanuel Macron says France will end military presence in Niger and pull ambassador from country after coup.

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  • At UN, African leaders say enough is enough: They must be partnered with, not sidelined

    At UN, African leaders say enough is enough: They must be partnered with, not sidelined

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    ABUJA, Nigeria — If you listen to the African leaders addressing the U.N. General Assembly this year, the message is emphatic and unanimous: The continent is done being a victim of a post-World War II order. It is a global power in itself and must be partnered with — not sidelined.

    Most of Africa has logged a lifetime of independence — roughly 60 years — and the continent of more than 1.3 billion people is more conscious of the challenges stifling its development. There’s also a new boldness that comes with the African Union’s G20 seat.

    “We as Africa have come to the world, not to ask for alms, charity or handouts, but to work with the rest of the global community and give every human being in this world a decent chance of security and prosperity,” Kenyan President William Ruto said.

    In recent years, Africa has been clear about its capacity to become a global power, from efforts to tackle climate change at home — such as the existential threat of climate change upending lives and livelihoods in the region, despite Africa contributing by far the least to global warming — to helping to foster peace elsewhere, like in Russia and Ukraine.

    In his address, Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo blamed Africa’s present-day challenges on “historical injustices” and called for reparations for the slave trade. President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa said the continent is poised to “regain its position as a site of human progress” despite dealing with a “legacy of exploitation and subjugation.” Nigeria’s leader, Bola Tinubu, urged his peers to see the region not as “a problem to be avoided” but as “true friends and partners.”

    “Africa is nothing less than the key to the world’s future,” said Tinubu, who leads a country that, by 2050, is forecast to become the third most populous in the world.

    With the largest bloc of countries at the United Nations, it is understandable that African leaders increasingly demand a bigger voice in multilateral institutions, said Murithi Mutiga, program director for Africa at the Crisis Group. “Those calls will grow especially at a time when the continent is being courted by big powers amid growing geopolitical competition.”

    On the U.N.’s sidelines, the African Development Bank mobilized some political and business leaders at an event tagged “Unstoppable Africa,” a phrase seen as reflective of the continent’s aspirations just days after the first-ever Africa Climate Summit called richer countries to keep their climate promises — and invest.

    But with a young population set to double by 2050, Africa is the only rapidly growing region where its people are getting poorer and where some are celebrating the rampant takeover of their democratically elected governments by militaries.

    “Africa is a paradox,” said Rashid Abdi, Horn of Africa/Gulf chief analyst at the Nairobi-based Sahan Research think tank. “It is not just a continent of dwindling hope, there are parts of Africa where we are seeing innovation, progressive thinking and very smart solutions.”

    Abdi said the world is becoming more interested in Africa and how it contributes to current global challenges.

    “There is definitely potential for Africa to be more assertive and to drive progressive and fairer change in the global system,” he said.

    For Ghana’s Akufo-Addo, correcting an “unfair” world order must begin with the payment of reparations from the era during which an approximated 12.5 million people were enslaved, according to the often-referenced Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.

    “It is time to acknowledge openly that much of Europe and the United States have been built from the vast wealth harvested from the sweat, tears, blood and horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the centuries of colonial exploitation,” Akufo-Addo said.

    The continent relies heavily on foreign aid for its development needs, receiving the largest share of total global aid, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Still, it continues to suffer from a global financial system that forces its countries to pay eight times more than the wealthiest European nations, resulting in surging debt that eats up what is left of dwindling government revenues.

    In 2022, Africa’s total public debt reached $1.8 trillion, 40 times more than the 2022 budget of the continent’s largest country Nigeria, according to the U.N.’s agency for trade and development.

    “Africa has no need for partnerships based on official development aid that is politically oriented and tantamount to organized charity,” President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi of the Democratic Republic of the Congo said. “Trickling subsidies filtered by the selfish interests of donors will certainly not allow for a real and effective rise of our continent.”

    Tshisekedi’s country has the world’s largest reserves of cobalt and is also one of the largest producers of copper, both critical for clean energy transition.

    What Africa needs instead, according to Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi, is a more inclusive global financial system. In such a system, Nyusi said, Africans can participate as “a partner that has (a) lot to offer to the world and not only a warehouse that supplies cheap commodities to countries or international multinational corporations.”

    The coronavirus pandemic laid bare how the challenges could be life-threatening: Officials were forced to confront that barely any drugs or vaccines were made on the continent, and that more solutions need to start at home.

    Africa’s capacity is not only in its population but also its rich natural resources. However, speaking with a collective voice is stymied by national-focused, rather than regional, policies , said Ibrahim Mayaki, the African Union’s special envoy for food systems.

    “The main obstacle to Africa’s development is its fragmentation in 50-plus countries,” said Mayaki at a New York event organized by the Africa Center think tank.

    As African leaders spoke glowingly about the continent as a force on the global stage, some at home said the leaders must begin by delivering the dividends of democracy to their people.

    In this richly endowed region, at least half of its 54 countries are among the 30 least developed in the world, according to the latest U.N. Human Development Index.

    “People will respect you naturally if you’re doing well as a leader and they see your people are not suffering,” said Grace Agbu, a resident of Nigeria’s capital city, Abuja. “You don’t beg people to respect or partner with you.”

    In Nigeria, chronic corruption and bad governance have robbed millions of the benefits of being Africa’s largest economy.

    And on the day Ghana’s Akufo-Addo demanded equal rights and justice for Africa in his address, police officers in his country were arresting dozens protesting the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

    “If Africa wants to be taken seriously, its leaders need to address the serious challenges the continent confronts including preventable ones such as acute conflict in several parts of Africa and a wave of coups, some driven by despair among the population about a failure to deliver security and basic governance,” said the Crisis Group’s Mutiga.

    Guinea’s military leader told the General Assembly the continent’s challenges sometimes have to be addressed by soldiers like him when elected presidents fail to do so. He took power after a 2021 coup.

    “The era of the old Africa is over,” Col. Mamadi Doumbouya said. “This is the end of an unbalanced and unjust era where we had no say. It is time to take our proper place.”

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  • Want a place on the UN stage? Leaders of divided nations must first get past this gatekeeper

    Want a place on the UN stage? Leaders of divided nations must first get past this gatekeeper

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    UNITED NATIONS — It’s one of the United Nations’ more obscure bodies, with no space to call its own within the riverside headquarters. And there is scant insight into how it decides a question of far-reaching impact: Who gets let through the door?

    With an anodyne name, the U.N. Credentials Committee has long gone unnoticed; it doesn’t even appear on the U.N.’s own organizational chart of its many agencies, councils, committees and departments. But when it comes to countries riven by political divisions or coups, the nine-member body is the gatekeeper to the world’s stage at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual meeting.

    Credentialing is a mere formality for universally recognized governments. But leaders of factions within divided nations know that the committee’s decision stands to withhold or bestow some much-desired legitimacy — especially when their claims aren’t necessarily the strongest.

    The workings of the Credentials Committee received little scrutiny until recently — when the Taliban and Myanmar military junta sought entry — and remains “an astonishingly opaque body,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director for the International Crisis Group.

    The president of the General Assembly proposes the members at the start of each yearlong session. Russia, China and the U.S. have occupied committee seats since its 1947 inception. The six other seats rotate, and newly selected members are Andorra, Grenada, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Suriname and Togo.

    The committee meets a couple times a year behind closed doors, issuing recommendations in a report that sheds virtually no light on the tenor of their evaluation or discussions. Last year’s was barely three pages. The General Assembly rarely discusses or debates the report before approving.

    “I think everyone finds the Credentials Committee a bit of a mystery. It is one of the least transparent U.N. bodies,” Gowan said by phone. “To some extent, everyone sort of lives with this, because the fact that it isn’t transparent allows it to fudge certain decisions and kick hard decisions down the road.”

    Rival authorities may submit documents to try to credential their own would-be U.N. representatives. The committee’s criteria for recommending the U.N. grant or deny entry remain a matter of some conjecture.

    Chief among them appears to be effective control of territory, though that may not be enough, according to an article in the American Society of International Law penned by Catherine Amirfar, a former president of the association, and two associates from her law firm Debevoise & Plimpton.

    “It is difficult to distill rules or principles on representation determinations from the Credentials Committee’s recommendations,” they wrote. “The Committee appears to apply a presumption of continuity from the prior session, while accounting for factors such as democratic legitimacy and commitment to human rights. Whatever factors the Committee might consider relevant, the nature of the criteria considered surely leave room for political considerations.”

    Although no country has diplomatically recognized the Taliban, it holds power throughout Afghanistan. Myanmar’s junta likewise controls the country. Yet both countries have gone unrepresented at the General Assembly in 2021 and 2022.

    In December, having once again received competing submissions, the Credentials Committee issued its report. It put off making a decision on the two countries, leaving the Taliban and the junta still boxed out.

    It also declined to issue a recommendation on dueling requests from Libya. That left credentials in the hands of the internationally recognized administration seated in the capital Tripoli rather than the rival government in the east, where devastating floods killed thousands of people earlier this month.

    There are several other countries where power is contested domestically, but not at the U.N.

    Addressing the General Assembly on Thursday was Sudan’s Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, who seized power in a 2021 coup, sidelined a broad-based pro-democracy movement and for the last five months has been battling an equally autocratic rival general for control of Sudan. Despite controlling much of the country’s territory — even in the capital, Khartoum — the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces did not submit a request for U.N. credentials.

    Following a coup in July, two competing credentials were submitted for Niger — but as of Thursday afternoon, the Credentials Committee had not scheduled a meeting, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the Secretary-General, said in an emailed statement.

    Niger appeared on a preliminary General Assembly schedule earlier this month, but no speaker was slated to speak as of Thursday.

    Before the coup, Bakary Yaou Sangaré had been Niger’s representative at the U.N. Afterward, the ruling junta made him their minister of foreign affairs and circulated his photos to journalists in the General Assembly hall on Monday, along with a statement proclaiming that he would “reaffirm the nation’s sovereignty.”

    However, the U.N. received a letter from the deposed government’s foreign minister “informing of the end of functions of Mr. Bakary as Permanent Representative of Niger to the United Nations,” and Dujarric said on Thursday that Sangaré was no longer allowed onto the premises.

    “This team, led by the army, enjoys the unconditional support of the people and we’re going to demand that our government react,” Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists Niger’s new military rulers with their communications, told The Associated Press.

    The U.N. General Assembly is a once-a-year opportunity to address fellow leaders and international media, weigh in on key issues and unveil major initiatives. Speaking confers prestige and a certain degree of legitimacy back home.

    Juan Guaidó, who declared himself Venezuela’s leader in 2019 following President Nicolas Maduro’s widely considered sham reelection the previous year, was initially recognized by dozens of countries, including the United States. He never submitted documents to speak at the General Assembly, although representatives of his parallel government held meetings on its sidelines.

    A U.S. attempt to advocate for the transfer of credentials from Maduro’s government to Guaidó recognition went nowhere, and Guaidó’s effort to topple Maduro eventually fizzled.

    “That U.S. effort failed, and I think that was one step back for Guaidó in trying to position himself as legitimate president of Venezuela,” Gowan said.

    The committee’s recommendations can have other knock-on effects: The article by Amirfar and her co-authors noted that the Credentials Committee’s reluctance to make a decision on Myanmar created confusion over who — a representative of the junta or the prior government — would represent the country at the International Court of Justice.

    “The role of the Credentials Committee and the impact of its recommendations has grown substantially since U.N. member states first adopted the rules that govern its procedure,” it read. “Far from its original ministerial function … the Credentials Committee has emerged as a key player in critical questions of global governance.”

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    AP journalists Sam Mednick in New York and Regina García Cano in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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    To more coverage of the U.N. General Assembly, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly

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  • Vice President Kamala Harris to face doubts and dysfunction at Southeast Asia summit

    Vice President Kamala Harris to face doubts and dysfunction at Southeast Asia summit

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    WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris will deepen her outreach to Southeast Asia this week at an international summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, where she’ll try to erase doubts about U.S. commitment to the region stirred by President Joe Biden’s absence.

    It’s Harris’ third trip to Southeast Asia and fourth to Asia overall, and she’s touched down in more countries there than any other continent. The repeat visits, in addition to meetings that she’s hosted in Washington, have positioned Harris as a key interlocutor for the administration as it tries to bolster a network of partnerships to counterbalance Chinese influence.

    This latest journey is another opportunity for Harris to burnish her foreign policy credentials as she prepares for a bruising campaign year. She’s already come under attack from Republican presidential candidates who say she’s unprepared to step up if Biden — the oldest U.S. president in history — can’t finish a second term.

    John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, said Harris has “made our alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific a key part of her agenda as vice president,” and he described her itinerary as “perfectly in keeping with the issues that she’s been focused on.”

    But Biden’s decision to skip the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, known as ASEAN, has caused some frustration, particularly because he’s already going to be in India and Vietnam around the same time. The president’s proximity makes his nonattendance “all the more more glaring than would otherwise be the case,” said Marty Natalegawa, Indonesia’s former foreign affairs minister.

    However, Natalegawa conceded that ASEAN is struggling to convince world leaders that it deserves to play a central role in the region. That’s even though the alliance represents more than 650 million people across 10 nations that collectively have the world’s fifth largest economy.

    The organization has not resolved civil strife in Myanmar, which saw a military coup two years ago and has been disinvited from meetings. A peace plan reached with the country’s top general did not lead to any progress.

    Negotiations over territorial claims in the South China Sea remain bogged down as well, and ASEAN faces internal disagreements over global competition between the United States and China. Some members, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, have sought closer ties with Washington, while Cambodia remains firmly in Beijing’s orbit.

    “We can complain all we want about other countries not respecting us or not coming to our summits,” Natalegawa said. “But ultimately, it is actually a point of reflection.”

    Unless ASEAN becomes more effective, Natalegawa said, “we may end up with less and less leaders turning up.”

    Kirby, the national security spokesman, rejected the idea that Biden was snubbing the organization or the region.

    “It’s just impossible to look at the record that this administration has put forward and say that we are somehow walking away,” Kirby said, noting that Biden already hosted the first-ever Washington summit with ASEAN leaders last year.

    Ja-Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said Harris’ presence helps the U.S. cover its bases at an event that may not prove productive on key issues.

    “You want to show that you’re paying attention, you send the vice president,” he said.

    Harris is scheduled to depart Monday morning and spend two days enmeshed in meetings in Jakarta. Her office has not yet detailed her schedule, but she’s expected to attend summit events and hold individual talks with some foreign leaders.

    Soon after Harris returns from Indonesia, Biden is headed to India for the annual Group of 20 summit, which pulls together many of the world’s richest countries and is a staple of any presidents’ calendar. Then he plans to stop in Vietnam, where he’s focused on strengthening ties with a country that is an emerging economic power.

    “I don’t fault the administration for the choice that they made. It’s just unfortunate that they had to make that choice,” said Gregory B. Poling, who directs the Southeast Asia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    Leaders are gathering in Jakarta amid heightened tension over the South China Sea after Beijing released a new official map that emphasizes its territorial claims there.

    The map has angered other nations that consider the waters to be part of their own territory or international byways. The South China Sea is a critical crossroads for global trade.

    U.S. officials and analysts believe Beijing’s aggressive approach to the region has created an opening for Washington to forge stronger partnerships.

    “In many ways, the PRC is doing its work for us,” said David Stilwell, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China. Stilwell served as the assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs under President Donald Trump.

    Although much of Biden’s recent attention has been on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he’s left no doubt that he considers China to be the top foreign policy challenge for the U.S. He’s described much of his agenda, both domestic and overseas, as an effort to deter Beijing from supplanting Washington as the most powerful worldwide force.

    Sometimes his warnings take a darker turn. During a recent fundraiser for his reelection campaign in Park City, Utah, Biden described China as a “ticking time bomb” because of its economic and demographic challenges.

    “That’s not good because when bad folks have problems, they do bad things,” he said.

    Harris has previously visited Singapore and Vietnam, Japan and South Korea, and the Philippines and Thailand.

    Many of her travels have been geared toward the global rivalry with China.

    Speaking from the deck of a U.S. Navy destroyer docked near Tokyo last year, Harris said China has “challenged freedom of the seas” and “flexed its military and economic might to coerce and intimidate its neighbors.”

    Harris also became the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Palawan, a Filipino island adjacent to the South China Sea that has been a front line for the territorial disputes. She said that Washington would support the Philippines “in the face of intimidation and coercion.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Edna Tarigan contributed from Jakarta, Indonesia.

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  • Gabon election results were a ‘smokescreen’ for soldiers to oust unpopular president, analysts say

    Gabon election results were a ‘smokescreen’ for soldiers to oust unpopular president, analysts say

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    DAKAR, Senegal — The ouster of Gabon’s president by mutinous soldiers appears to have been well organized and capitalized on the population’s grievances against the government as an excuse to seize power, analysts said.

    Soldiers on Wednesday ousted President Ali Bongo Ondimba, whose family has ruled the oil-rich country in Central Africa for more than five decades. The coup leaders accused Bongo of irresponsible governance that risked leading the country into chaos and said they put him under house arrest and detained several Cabinet members.

    The head of Gabon’s elite republican guard, Gen. Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, was announced on state TV as the nation’s new leader hours after Bongo was declared the winner of a weekend presidential election that observers said was marred with irregularities and a lack of transparency.

    While there were legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo’s rule, his ousting is just a pretext to claim power for themselves, Gabon experts say.

    “The timing of the coup, following the announcement of the implausible electoral results, and the speed with which the junta is moving suggests this was planned in advance,” Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said. “While there are many legitimate grievances about the vote and Bongo’s rule, that has little to do with the coup attempt in Gabon. Raising those grievances is just a smokescreen.”

    Gabon’s coup is the eighth military takeover in Central and West Africa in three years and comes roughly a month after Niger’s democratically elected president was ousted. Unlike Niger and neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, which have each had two coups apiece since 2020 and are being overrun by extremist violence, Gabon was seen as relatively stable.

    However, Bongo’s family has been accused of endemic corruption and not letting the country’s oil wealth trickle down to the population of some 2 million people.

    Bongo 64, has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years, and there has been widespread discontent with his reign. Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in 2019 but was quickly overpowered.

    The former French colony is a member of OPEC, but its oil wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few — and nearly 40% of Gabonese aged 15 to 24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank. Its oil export revenue was $6 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

    Gabon’s coup and the overturning of a dynastic leader, such as Bongo, appeared to have struck a nerve across the continent that coups in more remote, volatile West Africa previously hadn’t.

    Hours after soldiers in Gabon announced the new leader, president of neighboring Cameroon, Paul Biya, who’s been in power for 40 years, shuffled his military leadership, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame “accepted the resignation” of a dozen generals and more than 80 other senior military officers. Even Djibouti’s Ismail Omar Guelleh, in power in the tiny former French colony in the Horn of Africa since 1999, condemned the coup in Gabon and denounced the recent trend of military takeovers.

    Still, on Wednesday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said it was too early to call the attempted coup in Gabon a trend.

    “It’s just too soon to do a table slap here and say, ‘yep, we’ve got a trend here going’ or ‘yep, we’ve got a domino effect,’” he said.

    In a statement, the Commission of the Economic Community of Central African States, a Central African regional bloc, said it “firmly condemns” the use of force for resolving political conflicts and gaining access to power. It called for a return to constitutional order.

    Since Bongo was toppled, the streets of Gabon’s capital, Libreville, have been jubilant with people celebrating alongside the army.

    “Today we can only be happy,” said John Nze, a resident. “The country’s past situation handicapped everyone. There were no jobs. If the Gabonese are happy, it’s because they were hurting under the Bongos”.

    ___

    Associated Press journalists Cara Anna in Nairobi, Kenya, and Will Weissert in Washington contributed to this report.

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  • Mutinous soldiers in Gabon say they’ve ousted president whose family has ruled for 55 years

    Mutinous soldiers in Gabon say they’ve ousted president whose family has ruled for 55 years

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    LIBREVILLE, Gabon — Mutinous soldiers in Gabon said Wednesday they were seizing power to overturn the results of a presidential election, and claimed to have arrested the president, whose family has held power for 55 years.

    Crowds took to the capital’s streets celebrating the possible ouster of a family that’s grown rich while the oil-rich country’s economy has stagnated.

    The coup attempt came hours after the central African country’s President Ali Bongo Ondimba, 64, was declared winner of an election criticized by international observers and marred by fears of violence.

    Within minutes of the announcement, gunfire was heard in the center of the capital, Libreville. Later, a dozen uniformed soldiers appeared on state television and announced that they had seized power.

    Crowds took to the city’s streets to celebrate the end of Bongo’s reign, singing the national anthem with soldiers.

    “Thank you, army. Finally, we’ve been waiting a long time for this moment,” said Yollande Okomo, standing in front of soldiers from Gabon’s elite republican guard.

    Shopkeeper Viviane Mbou offered the soldiers juice, which they declined.

    “Long live our army,” said Jordy Dikaba, a young man walking with his friends on a street lined with armored policemen.

    There’s been widespread discontent with the Bongo family for years and a coup attempt is not surprising, said Maja Bovcon Africa, senior analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk assessment firm. But she said more immediate inspiration likely came from a recent spate of coups in the Sahel, where military officers have shown that they can seize power without repercussions.

    Gabon’s coup leaders can also play to doubts about the electoral process, Africa, the analyst, said. The vote was not transparent and practically held behind closed doors, she said.

    Every vote held in Gabon since the country’s return to a multi-party system in 1990 has ended in violence. Clashes between government forces and protesters following the 2016 election killed four people, according to official figures. The opposition said the death toll was far higher.

    “Gabon’s electoral laws and framework do not ensure credible elections,” Freedom House said in its 2023 country assessment.

    The soldiers who claimed power Wednesday planned to “dissolve all institutions of the republic,” said a spokesman for the group. He said that Bongo’s “unpredictable, irresponsible governance” risked leading the country into chaos.

    Gabon is a member of the OPEC oil cartel, with a production of some 181,000 barrels of crude a day, but its over 2 million people face high unemployment and rising prices. Nearly 40% of Gabonese ages 15-24 were out of work in 2020, according to the World Bank.

    Several French companies said they were suspending operations and moving to ensure the safety of their staff, and a man who answered the phone at the airport said flights were canceled Wednesday. The private intelligence firm Ambrey said all operations at the country’s main port in Libreville had been halted, with authorities refusing to grant permission for vessels to leave.

    A second statement by the coup leaders, who came from the gendarme, the republican guard and other elements of the security forces, said the president was under house arrest in his residence, surrounded by family and doctors. People around him have been arrested for “high betrayal of state institutions, massive embezzlement of public funds (and) international financial embezzlement” said the military, among other charges.

    There has been no word from the president.

    Several members of the Bongo family are under investigation in France, and some have been given preliminary charges of embezzlement, money laundering and other forms of corruption, according to French media reports.

    The coup attempt came about one month after mutinous soldiers in Niger seized power from the democratically elected government, and is the latest in a series of coups that have challenged governments with ties to France, the region’s former colonizer. Gabon’s coup, if successful would bring the number of coups in West and Central Africa to eight since 2020.

    Unlike Niger and two other West African countries run by military juntas, Gabon hasn’t been wracked by jihadi violence and had been seen as relatively stable.

    In his annual Independence Day speech Aug. 17, Bongo said “While our continent has been shaken in recent weeks by violent crises, rest assured that I will never allow you and our country Gabon to be hostages to attempts at destabilization. Never.”

    At a time when anti-France sentiment is spreading in many former colonies, the French-educated Bongo met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris in late June and shared photos of them shaking hands.

    The mutinous officers vowed to respect “Gabon’s commitments to the national and international community.”

    France has 400 soldiers in Gabon leading a regional military training operation. They’ve not changed their normal operations today, according to the French military.

    French government spokesperson, Olivier Veran, said Wednesday: “France condemns the military coup that is underway in Gabon and is closely monitoring developments in the country, and France reaffirms its wish that the outcome of the election, once known, be respected.”

    When asked about Gabon Wednesday, the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell said it would be discussed by EU ministers this week. Defense ministers from the 27-nation bloc are meeting in Spain on Wednesday, and foreign ministers on Thursday. Borrell will chair both meetings, and Niger will also be a focus.

    “If this is confirmed, it’s another military coup, which increases instability in the whole region,” he said.

    A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, said Wednesday that China was closely following Gabon’s situation and called on the parties to resolve the issue peacefully, keeping in mind the interests of the nation and its people.

    Bongo has served two terms since coming to power in 2009 after the death of his father, who ruled the country for 41 years. Another group of mutinous soldiers attempted a coup in January 2019, while Bongo was in Morocco recovering from a stroke, but was quickly overpowered.

    Bongo faced an opposition coalition led by economics professor and former education minister Albert Ondo Ossa, whose surprise nomination came a week before the vote.

    Reached Wednesday, Ossa said he wasn’t ready to comment on the attempted coup and was waiting for the situation to evolve.

    After the vote, the Central African nation’s Communications Minister, Rodrigue Mboumba Bissawou, announced a nightly curfew from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m., and said internet access was being restricted indefinitely to quell disinformation and calls for violence.

    NetBlocks, an organization tracking internet access worldwide, said internet service saw a “partial restoration” in Gabon after the coup.

    ___

    Mednick reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press reporters Cara Anna in Nairobi, Kenya, Jamey Keaten in Geneva; Angela Charlton in Paris; and Jon Gambrell and Malak Harb in Dubai, United Arab Emirates contributed.

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  • Daughter of ex-Thai leader Thaksin says he is fatigued, as criticism grows of his hospitalization

    Daughter of ex-Thai leader Thaksin says he is fatigued, as criticism grows of his hospitalization

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    BANGKOK — Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is suffering from stress and fatigue but is in good spirits, his daughter said Tuesday as criticism grew of his transfer to a hospital just hours after he began serving an eight-year prison sentence.

    Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup, returned to Thailand last week after 15 years of self-imposed exile and was immediately sent to prison over several criminal convictions he has decried as politically motivated.

    Corrections officials said Thaksin, 74, was considered vulnerable due to his age, chronic heart and lung conditions, high blood pressure and back problems. Thaksin, a former police lieutenant colonel, is being treated in a private room at the Police General Hospital, where the director said he was in serious condition with heart and lung problems.

    “My dad was happy to see me, very happy. He’s stressed and tired but he is in good spirits,” Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters at the headquarters of populist Pheu Thai party, of which she is a key member. Pheu Thai is the latest in a string of parties affiliated with Thaksin that were founded after he was removed from power and his party dissolved.

    Paetongtarn said after visiting her father in the hospital that he had suffered complications after contracting the coronavirus in 2020 and that she is most worried about his heart condition.

    Hours after Thaksin’s return to Thailand, a Pheu Thai candidate, Srettha Thavisin, won enough votes in Parliament to become prime minister, ending more than three months of uncertainty after national elections.

    To achieve a majority, the party formed a coalition with pro-military parties linked to a coup that removed a Pheu Thai government led by Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, from power in 2014. It also excluded the progressive Move Forward Party, which won the most votes in the elections, from the coalition.

    It is widely believed that the divisive former leader returned out of hope that a friendly government would reduce his sentence, and that he may have made a deal with authorities, although Thaksin has said his decision had nothing to do with the Pheu Thai party’s bid for power. The outgoing government said Thaksin can request a royal pardon like any other prisoner.

    Paetongtarn said her father will decide when to request a pardon.

    There is growing criticism that Thaksin has received special treatment compared to other inmates, including not having to get a prison-style haircut. His swift transfer to the hospital has prompted calls for proof that he is genuinely sick. A conservative-aligned group of activists went to the hospital last week demanding that it release information about his condition and treatment.

    Asked about the controversy, Paetongtarn replied only that she was worried about him being sick. She said the duration of his stay is up to the medical staff.

    ___

    Associated Press video journalist Jerry Harmer contributed to this report.

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  • Myanmar expels East Timor’s diplomat in retaliation for supporting opposition forces

    Myanmar expels East Timor’s diplomat in retaliation for supporting opposition forces

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    BANGKOK — BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military-installed government has ordered East Timor’s senior diplomat to leave the country in retaliation for the East Timorese government holding meetings with Myanmar’s main opposition organization, the Foreign Ministry said Sunday.

    The statement said East Timor has conducted engagements with Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which views itself as the country’s legitimate administration after the military seized power from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on Feb. 1, 2021.

    The National Unity Government also serves as an umbrella organization for opponents of military rule.

    The Foreign Ministry said it informed the charge d’affaires of the East Timor Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, on Friday to leave the country no later than Sept. 1.

    The charge d’affaires is believed to be the first foreign diplomat expelled from Myanmar since the army takeover.

    Many countries have downgraded their relations with Myanmar and left behind the No. 2 diplomat in place of ambassadors.

    The military takeover was met with massive public opposition, which security forces quashed with deadly force, in turn triggering widespread armed resistance as the country slipped into what some U.N. experts characterize as a civil war.

    More than 4,000 civilians have been killed by security forces and nearly 20,000 are imprisoned, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which keeps tallies of casualties and arrests linked to repression by the military.

    East Timor, Asia’s youngest nation, has vocally criticized Myanmar’s military rulers and shown support for the opposition.

    In July, East Timor’s President Jose Ramos-Horta officially invited Zin Mar Aung, the foreign minister of the National Unity Government, to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, a former East Timor independence fighter.

    Last week, the shadow government’s human rights minister, Aung Myo Min, was also invited to open a human rights training program in East Timor, where he met with Ramos-Horta.

    “Such irresponsible actions of the government of Timor-Leste are not only harming the bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries but also encouraging the terrorist group to further committing their violations in Myanmar,” the Foreign Ministry said.

    East Timor’s government condemned the expulsion of its diplomat. It said East Timor “reiterates the importance of supporting all efforts for the return of democratic order in Myanmar and expresses its solidarity with the Myanmar people while urging the military junta to respect human rights and seek a peaceful and constructive solution to the crisis.”

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  • UN experts say Islamic State group almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in under a year

    UN experts say Islamic State group almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in under a year

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    UNITED NATIONS — Islamic State extremists have almost doubled the territory they control in Mali in less than a year, and their al-Qaida-linked rivals are capitalizing on the deadlock and perceived weakness of armed groups that signed a 2015 peace agreement, United Nations experts said in a new report.

    The stalled implementation of the peace deal and sustained attacks on communities have offered the IS group and al-Qaida affiliates a chance “to re-enact the 2012 scenario,” they said.

    That’s the year when a military coup took place in the West African country and rebels in the north formed an Islamic state two months later. The extremist rebels were forced from power in the north with the help of a French-led military operation, but they moved from the arid north to more populated central Mali in 2015 and remain active.

    In August 2020, Mali’s president was overthrown in a coup that included an army colonel who carried out a second coup and was sworn in as president in June 2021. He developed ties to Russia’s military and Russia’s Wagner mercenary group whose head, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was reportedly killed in a plane crash on a flight from Moscow this week.

    The 2015 peace agreement was signed by three parties: the government, a pro-government militia and a coalition of groups who seek autonomy in northern Mali.

    The panel of experts said in the report circulated Friday that the impasse in implementing the agreement — especially the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of combatants into society — is empowering al-Qaida-linked Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, known as JNIM, to vie for leadership in northern Mali.

    Sustained violence and attacks mostly by IS fighters in the Greater Sahara have also made the signatories to the peace deal “appear to be weak and unreliable security providers” for communities targeted by the extremists, the experts said.

    JNIM is taking advantage of this weakening “and is now positioning itself as the sole actor capable of protecting populations against Islamic State in the Greater Sahara,” they said.

    The panel said Mali’s military rulers are watching the confrontation between the IS group and al-Qaida affiliate from a distance.

    The experts cited some sources as saying the government believes that over time the confrontation in the north will benefit Malian authorities, but said other sources believe time favors the terrorists “whose military capacities and community penetration grow each day.”

    “In less than a year, Islamic State in the Greater Sahara has almost doubled its areas of control in Mali,” the panel said, pointing to its control now of rural areas in eastern Menaka and large parts of the Ansongo area in northern Gao.

    In June, Mali’s junta ordered the U.N. peacekeeping force and its 15,000 international troops to leave after a decade of working on stemming the jihadi insurgency The Security Council terminated the mission’s mandate on June 30.

    The panel said the armed groups that signed the 2015 agreement expressed concern that the peace deal could potentially fall apart without U.N. mediation, “thereby exposing the northern regions to the risk of another uprising.”

    The U.N. force, known as MINUSMA, “played a crucial role” in facilitating talks between the parties, monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the agreement, and investigating alleged violations, the panel said.

    The 104-page report painted a grim picture of other turmoil and abuses in the country.

    The panel said terrorist groups, armed groups that signed the 2015 agreement, and transnational organized crime rings are competing for control over trade and trafficking routes transiting through the northern regions of Gao and Kidal.

    “Mali remains a hotspot for drug trafficking in West Africa and between coastal countries in the Gulf of Guinea and North Africa, in both directions,” the experts said, adding that many of the main drug dealers are reported to be based in the capital Bamako.

    The panel said it remains particularly concerned with persistent conflict-related sexual violence in the eastern Menaka and central Mopti regions, “especially those involving the foreign security partners of the Malian Armed Force” – the Wagner Group.

    “The panel believes that violence against women, and other forms of grave abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law are being used, specifically by the foreign security partners, to spread terror among populations,” the report said.

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  • Russia’s Wagner mercenaries face uncertainty after the presumed death of its leader in a plane crash

    Russia’s Wagner mercenaries face uncertainty after the presumed death of its leader in a plane crash

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    The Wagner Group’s presence extends from the ancient battlegrounds of Syria to the deserts of sub-Saharan Africa, projecting the Kremlin’s global influence with mercenaries accused of using brutal force and profiting on mineral riches they seized.

    But that was under Yevgeny Prigozhin, who in what could have been his final video released earlier this week appeared in military fatigues and held an assault rifle from an unidentified dry and dusty plain as he boasted that Wagner is “making Russia even greater on all continents and Africa even more free.”

    On Wednesday, a private jet carrying Prigozhin and his top lieutenants of the mercenary group crashed northwest of Moscow, two months after he led an armed rebellion that challenged the authority of President Vladimir Putin. There is wide speculation that Prigozhin, who is presumed dead, was targeted for his uprising, although the Kremlin has denied involvement.

    That crash has raised questions about the future of the Wagner Group.

    In African countries where Wagner provided security against groups like al-Qaida and the Islamic State, officials and commentators predict Russia will likely maintain its presence, placing the forces under new leadership.

    Others, however, say Prigozhin built deep, personal connections that Moscow could find challenging to replace quickly.

    Africa is vitally important to Russia — economically and politically.

    This summer, Wagner helped secure a national referendum in the Central African Republic that cemented presidential power; it is a key partner for Mali’s army in battling armed rebels; and it contacted the military junta in Niger that wants its services following a coup.

    Expanding ties and undercutting Western influence in Africa is a top priority as the Kremlin seeks new allies amid its war in Ukraine, where Wagner forces also helped win a key battle. Africa’s 54 nations are the largest voting bloc at the U.N., and Moscow has actively worked to rally their support for its invasion.

    Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., said Friday that Wagner’s forces “are destabilizing, and we’ve encouraged countries in Africa to condemn their presence as well as their actions.”

    On Thursday, the Republican Front in the Central African Republic, allied with the ruling party, reiterated its support for Russia and Wagner, saying they were “determined to fight alongside the African people as they struggle for self-determination.”

    Wagner forces have served as personal bodyguards for President Faustin Archange Touadera, protecting the capital of Bangui from rebel threats and helping secure a July 30 constitutional referendum that could extend his power indefinitely.

    Central African activist and blogger Christian Aime Ndotah said the country’s cooperation with Russia would be unaffected by new leadership with Wagner, which has been “well-established” there for years.

    But some in the Central African Republic denounce the mercenaries, and the U.N. peacekeeping mission there criticized them in 2021 for human rights abuses.

    “A state’s security is its sovereignty. You can’t entrust the security of a state to a group of mercenaries,” said Jean Serge Bokassa, former public security minister.

    Nathalia Dukhan, senior investigator at The Sentry, predicted the Kremlin will try to bring Africa closer into its orbit.

    “Wagner has been a successful tool for Russia to expand its influence efficiently and brutally,” she said. “In the midst of all the turmoil between Putin and Prigozhin, the Wagner operation in Central Africa only deepened, with increased direct involvement by the Russian government.”

    High-ranking Wagner operatives have built relationships in Mali and the Central African Republic and understand the terrain, said Lou Osborn of All Eyes on Wagner, a project focusing on the group.

    “They have a good reputation, which they can sell to another Russian contender. It wouldn’t be surprising if a new organization took them over,” Osborn said, noting that Russian military contractors in Ukraine, such as Redut and Convoy, have recently expressed a desire to do business in Africa.

    Redut was created by the Russian Defense Ministry, which has sought to put Wagner under its control. Following the June mutiny, Putin said the mercenaries could sign contracts with the ministry and keep serving under one of the group’s top commanders, Andrei Troshev. It wasn’t clear how many troops accepted, but media reports put the number at a few thousand.

    The Kremlin still could face challenges in keeping the strong presence in Africa that Prigozhin helped establish.

    Former Putin speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov argued Prigozhin may have been allowed to continue his post-activities because Russian authorities had to find people who would take over his work.

    “Time was needed to create the new channels, new mechanisms of control over those projects,” he said. “And it’s not a fact that they have been successful in that. It’s possible that they have failed and the Kremlin may lose some of those projects.”

    Britain’s Defense Ministry said Prigozhin’s demise “would almost certainly have a deeply destabilizing effect on the Wagner Group.”

    “His personal attributes of hyper-activity, exceptional audacity, a drive for results and extreme brutality permeated Wagner and are unlikely to be matched by any successor,” it said.

    On Friday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on Wagner’s future.

    For Prigozhin, who created Wagner in 2014, its missions weren’t simply about advancing Russia’s global clout. His contractors in Syria, Libya, Sudan and elsewhere tapped the mineral and energy wealth of those countries to enrich himself.

    Central African Republic lawmaker and opposition leader Martin Ziguélé said Wagner was active in gold mining, timber and other industries — without paying taxes.

    “We can only conclude that it’s plundering,” he said.

    Prigozhin reached a deal with Putin after the rebellion that saw Wagner mercenaries move to Belarus in exchange for amnesty, and the mercenary boss spoke repeatedly since then about expanding his activities in Africa. He was seen courting African officials at a recent summit in St. Petersburg.

    He quickly welcomed last month’s military coup that toppled Niger President Mohamed Bazoum. The junta reached out to Wagner, but the group’s response was unclear and there’s no visible presence of Russian mercenaries there — other than crowds waving Russian and Wagner flags at protests.

    While U.S. officials didn’t confirm that Russia or Wagner had any role in the coup, there are fears the Kremlin could exploit it to weaken Western positions in West Africa, where the mercenaries already have a presence in Mali and Burkina Faso.

    Niger’s residents say Prigozhin’s presumed death won’t stop Russia from trying to expand its influence.

    “Our belief is that Russia wants to get a base here and to be popular. It’s obvious they want to be here,” Niamey tailor Baraou Souleimanin told The Associated Press. Since the coup, he said he’s sewn more than 150 Russian flags in a month.

    “We pray that Allah strengthens the relationship with (Wagner) to continue the deal. If the relationship is good and strong, it’s possible they’ll continue with the deal even after his death,” he said Thursday.

    In neighboring Mali, a military junta that seized power in 2020 expelled French troops, diplomats, and media, and ordered an end to a decade-long U.N. peacekeeping mission.

    Though not officially recognized by Malian authorities, Wagner forces have been known to operate in the rural north, where rebel and extremist groups have eroded state power and tormented communities.

    Human Rights Watch says Mali’s army, together with suspected Wagner mercenaries, committed summary executions, looting, forced disappearances and other abuses.

    “What we have experienced through Wagner is the massacre of our people,” said Ali Nouhoum Diallo, former president of the national assembly.

    Timbuktu resident Youba Khalifa said Wagner’s presence in Mali wouldn’t change after Prigozhin because “they’re going to replace him with another leader.”

    Although Prigozhin had told his troops in Belarus their new mission would be in Africa, several thousand of them trained the Belarusian army near the Polish border, prompting Warsaw to bolster forces there. There were signs, however, the mercenaries were preparing to pull back to Russia.

    Belarusian Hajun, a group monitoring Russian troops in Belarus, said Thursday that satellite images showed more than a third of the tents at a Wagner camp had been dismantled, a sign of a possible exodus. Still, President Alexander Lukashenko insists his country will host about 10,000 troops.

    That draws strong objections from the Belarusian opposition, which demands their withdrawal.

    “Prigozhin’s death should put an end to Wagner’s presence in Belarus, which will reduce the threat for our country and its neighbors,” exiled opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya told AP.

    ___

    Sam Mednick in Niamey, Niger; Zane Irwin in Dakar, Senegal; Jean Fernand Koena in Bangui, Central African Republic; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali; and Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed.

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  • Niger junta’s 3-year transition plan is a ‘provocation,’ says West African regional bloc

    Niger junta’s 3-year transition plan is a ‘provocation,’ says West African regional bloc

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    NIAMEY, Niger — The West African bloc ECOWAS rejected the proposal by Niger’s mutinous soldiers for a three-year transition to democratic rule, with a commissioner describing the slow timeline as a provocation.

    The door for diplomacy with Niger’s junta remained open but the bloc is not going to engage in drawn-out talks that lead nowhere, Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS commissioner for peace and security, told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.

    “It is the belief among the ECOWAS heads of state and also the commission that the coup in Niger is one coup too many for the region and if we allow it then we are going to have a domino effect in the region and we are determined to stop it,” Musah said. While direct talks and backchannel negotiations are ongoing, he said the door to diplomacy wasn’t open indefinitely.

    “We are not going to engage in long, drawn out haggling with these military officers … We went down that route in Mali, in Burkina Faso and elsewhere, and we are getting nowhere,” Musah said.

    His comments came days after an ECOWAS delegation met the head of Niger’s military regime, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, for the first time since the mutinous soldiers ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in July.

    After last week’s meetng, Musah said the ball is now in the junta’s court.

    The junta has been keeping Bazoum and his wife and son under house arrest, and ECOWAS has demanded Bazoum be freed and constitutional order restored.

    ECOWAS has used Niger as a red line against further coups after several in the region, including two each in Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020.

    The bloc has imposed severe economic and travel sanctions and threatened the use of military force if Bazoum is not reinstated, but the junta has dug in. It has appointed a new government and said it will return the country to democratic rule within several years.

    Niger was seen as one of the last democratic countries in the Sahel region below the Sahara Desert that Western nations could partner with to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. France, other European countries and the United States have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into providing equipment and training for Niger’s military and in the case of France have conducted joint operations.

    Since the coup those military operations have been suspended while both sides decide what to do. France and the U.S. have some 2,500 military personnel in the country and the U.S. operates two key drone and counter-terror bases.

    Musah said ECOWAS was not discussing military plans with any external partners and everything it was planning is based on the resources of member states. Earlier this month, ECOWAS said 11 of its 15 member states had agreed to intervene militarily if talks didn’t work.

    ECOWAS is banking on a combination of external pressure through sanctions and internal unrest within Niger’s security forces and the fact that Tchiani, the junta’s leader, met with ECOWAS face to face after multiple attempts, is a sign that the coup leaders are feeling the pressure, said Nate Allen, an associate professor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

    “Nonetheless, it is clear that the two sides remain very far apart and the risk of conflict is high,” he said.

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  • Thousands of discouraged migrants are stranded in Niger because of border closures following coup

    Thousands of discouraged migrants are stranded in Niger because of border closures following coup

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    NIAMEY, Niger — After three months of crossing the desert and then watching other migrants die at sea in his failed attempt to reach Europe, Sahr John Yambasu gave up on getting across the Mediterranean and decided to go back home.

    The 29-year-old from Sierra Leone reached Niger in June on his return journey, but United Nations officials said he had to wait for packed migrant centers to empty before he could be repatriated.

    Then mutinous soldiers toppled Niger’s president a few weeks later, bringing regional tensions and the shuttering of the borders. Yambasu was trapped.

    He is one of nearly 7,000 discouraged migrants trying to get home elsewhere in Africa that the U.N. estimates have been stranded in Niger since late July when members of the presidential guard overthrew the country’s democratically elected president, Mohamad Bazoum. Niger’s junta closed its airspace and regional countries closed border crossings as part of economic and travel sanctions, making it hard for people to leave.

    Niger is an important route both for Africans trying to reach Libya as a jumping off spot to cross the Mediterranean to Europe and those who are returning to their homes with help from the United Nations.

    Yambasu and others like him are unsure when they will be able to leave.

    “I feel sad because it’s a country that I don’t belong to. It’s not easy,” Yambasu said.

    Recounting his story, he said he left Sierra Leone in June because of political unrest and was hoping to reach Germany. He got rides across the region until arriving in Libya, where he boarded a boat with some 200 other migrants. The boat spent days at sea, with some people dying onboard before it was intercepted by Libya’s coast guard and taken back to Libya.

    That was enough for him and he headed for home. Helped by aid groups, he made it as far as Niger but has been unable to go farther.

    U.N. officials estimate about 1,800 in Yambasu’s predicament are living on Niger’s streets because centers run by the International Organization for Migration are too crowded to take in more. The centers hold about 5,000 people trying to get home.

    The U.N. agency had been assisting approximately 1,250 people a month return to their countries this year. But the closure of borders and airspace has forced it to temporarily suspend returns and its centers are now jammed at 14% over capacity, said Paola Pace, acting interim chief of mission for the agency in Niger.

    “This situation poses challenges for migrants as migrants staying in these centers may experience heightened stress and uncertainty with limited prospects for voluntary return and already crowded facilities,” she said.

    Pace worries the stall in the transiting of Africans seeking to get home could increase exploitation of vulnerable people by traffickers and smugglers who normally focus on individuals trying to migrate to Europe.

    The shelters are helping people who are making their way home, rather than would-be migrants heading to Europe — a northern flow that has seen more than 100,000 cross the central Mediterranean to Italy so far this year, according to Italy’s interior ministry.

    COOPI, an Italian aid group that provides shelter for migrants in Niger’s northern town of Assamakka near the border with Algeria, said that since the coup an additional 1,300 people have entered its center trying to return home.

    COOPI assists the U.N. in hosting people, but has warned that it will run out of food and water if the borders don’t open soon.

    Not only are migrants unable to leave but aid groups are unable to bring in food and medical supplies.

    Morena Zucchelli, head of mission for COOPI in Niger, said it has only enough food stocks to last until the end of August and its funding will run out at the end of September.

    “If the situation doesn’t change … we can’t guarantee things will continue running,” she said.

    Before the coup, Niger worked with the European Union in trying to slow the flow of migrants north to Libya and Algeria. The EU had been scheduled to provide more than $200 million to Niger to help it address security, socio-economic and migration challenges.

    It’s unclear how cooperative the new military leaders will be with the EU, which has now frozen assistance to Niger. Anitta Hipper, a spokeswoman for the European Commission, could not say Tuesday whether cooperation on migration had been suspended, saying only that the EU would continue to “monitor and evaluate the situation.”

    Momo Kmulbah is another of those trying to get back home, for him in Liberia. He says many of them have nowhere to turn for help. He says U.N. officials have told him to be patient.

    The 36-year-old has been sleeping on the pavement in Niger’s capital, Niamey, with his two daughters and wife since June and they beg for food.

    “Our children don’t have food to eat. I feel confused when I wake up in the morning,” Kmulbah said.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Renata Brito in Barcelona, Spain, and Lorne Cook in Brussels, Belgium, contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

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  • Divisive Thai ex-Prime Minister Thaksin returns from exile as party seeks to form new government

    Divisive Thai ex-Prime Minister Thaksin returns from exile as party seeks to form new government

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    BANGKOK — Divisive ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand on Tuesday after years of self-imposed exile to face possible criminal penalties on the same day that a party affiliated with him plans to start forming a new government.

    Thaksin has said his decision to return has nothing to do with an expected vote in Parliament later in the day on a candidate from the Pheu Thai party for prime minister. But many believe his arrival is connected to the party’s pursuit of power.

    Thaksin flew from Singapore in his private jet and landed at Don Mueang International Airport around 9 a.m. local time. Thai broadcasters aired live footage of him walking out of the airport’s private jet terminal with his three children including his youngest daughter, key Pheu Thai member Paetongtarn Shinawatra. His grandchildren were also seen.

    After walking out, Thaksin placed a flower wreath and prostrated before a portrait of Thailand’s king and queen at the gate of the terminal. He spent a moment greeting supporters and the media waiting in front of the terminal but did not speak.

    Hundreds of his supporters gathered outside of the airport hours ahead of his arrival, donning red, a color long associated with Thaksin, and holding sign with welcoming messages. They showed their devotion to him with songs and chants, then raised raucous cheers when he appeared at the entrance.

    “I feel fulfilled that I traveled here today to pick him up. If possible I want to hug him. Everyone has tears, tears coming out of their eyes,” said Makawan Payakkae, a 43-year-old from Maha Sarakham province.

    The 74-year-old billionaire promoted populist policies and used his telecommunications fortune to build his own Thai Rak Thai party and be elected prime minister in 2001 and easily reelected in 2005, before being ousted in a military coup in 2006 and fleeing into exile a few years later.

    Paetongtarn posted family photos with Thaksin in the middle on Facebook with a message thanking people who went to the airport to welcome her father, saying “me and my family are very grateful.”

    His convoy first went to the Supreme Court, where a news release from the body said he would formally inform him of earlier convictions issued in absentia for which he was sentenced to a total of 10 years imprisonment. The convoy left the court an hour later and went to Bangkok’s main prison. Thaksin was convicted in absentia for several criminal cases after he fled that he claimed were politically motivated.

    Pheu Thai is the latest in a string of parties affiliated with Thaksin. The military coup that ousted him triggered years of upheaval and division that pitted a mostly poor, rural majority in the north that supports Thaksin against royalists, the military and their urban backers.

    Less than a week before May elections, Thaksin announced he would like to return before his birthday in July, but the plan was repeatedly delayed, with he and Paetongtarn citing both post-election uncertainties and his health.

    Pheu Thai came in second in the elections but took over leadership in forming a new government after the surprise winner, the progressive Move Forward Party, was repeatedly rejected by conservative senators appointed by a previous military government.

    Move Forward’s reform agenda appealed deeply to many Thais, particularly younger voters who were disenchanted by nearly a decade of military-backed rule, but was seen as a threat by the country’s conservative elites.

    After more than three months without a new government for Thailand, Parliament convened on Tuesday to attempt to choose a prime minister again. Pheu Thai’s candidate, former property developer Srettha Thavisin, was the only name nominated by his party leader Chonlanan Srikaew. Pheu Thai launched the bid to form the government after it assembled an 11-party coalition including two parties allied with its former military adversaries, holding 314 seats in the 500-member House of Representatives.

    Srettha needs some support from the non-elected Senate, appointed by a previous military government, to achieve a majority in the combined parliamentary vote. Both houses of Parliament vote together for the prime minister under the military-implemented constitution, in an arrangement designed to protect conservative military-backed rule. Senators, like the army, see themselves as guardians of traditional conservative royalist values.

    House Speaker Wan Muhammad Noor Matha has allocated time for lawmakers to debate on the nomination before the vote takes place in the afternoon. Srettha did not run for office and the law does not require a prime ministerial candidate to be an elected lawmaker. Parliament also does not require him to be present at the vote.

    Pheu Thai has been heavily criticized by some of its supporters for backtracking on a pre-election pledge not to join hands with pro-military parties. Party officials have defended the decision by saying it was necessary to break the political deadlock and seek reconciliation after decades of deep political divisions.

    Thaksin was ousted while he was abroad in 2006. He came back briefly to Thailand in 2008 to face a court trial before fleeing the country. He has avoided returning over concerns he would not be treated fairly by the military-backed government and establishment that has long held a sharp animosity toward him.

    He has remained active in Thai politics, however, often making video calls to rallies of his supporters and parties backed by him.

    “Thaksin’s plans to return to Thailand were postponed after the election results were announced — this implies a strong connection between the election, formation of coalitions, and selection of the prime minister on one hand, and Thaksin’s personal agenda on the other,” said Napon Jatusripitak, a political science researcher and visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

    “Thaksin has managed to make this election about himself personally, and the direction of a Pheu Thai-led coalition heavily depends on his personal whims.”

    Thaksin could wind up serving prison time unless he receives a royal pardon. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam of the outgoing military-linked government has said that Thaksin is eligible to request a pardon and could receive special treatment because of his age.

    Napon said Thaksin’s decision to return now suggests that “he has received assurances that he will not have to serve a prison sentence in full.”

    ___

    Find more of AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

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  • Talks between regional bloc and Niger’s junta yield little, an official tells The Associated Press

    Talks between regional bloc and Niger’s junta yield little, an official tells The Associated Press

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    NIAMEY, Niger — Mutinous soldiers in Niger are under pressure from regional sanctions as they refuse to reinstate the country’s president whom they toppled nearly a month ago while being fearful of attacks from France, an official said.

    The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity after Saturday’s meeting between Niger’s new military regime and a delegation from the West African regional bloc, ECOWAS.

    He said the roughly two-hour discussion aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the country’s deepening crisis, yielded little with no clarity on the next steps. It was the first time head of the junta, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, met with the delegation after rebuffing previous attempts.

    Saturday’s meeting was a last-ditch diplomacy scramble by the bloc to resolve the crisis peacefully and followed last week’s announcement that 11 of its 15 member states had agreed to intervene militarily if democratically-elected President Bazoum was not released from house arrest and reinstated.

    The bloc’s three other countries under military rule following coups, Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, were not included. The latter two had previously warned they would consider intervention in Niger an act of war.

    On August 10, ECOWAS ordered the deployment of a “standby force” to go into Niger and restore constitutional rule. It’s unclear if and when the troops would intervene.

    During the talks, Tchiani pushed for the lifting of economic and travel sanctions imposed by ECOWAS after the coup, saying Niger’s population was suffering because of them, but he was unwilling to give much in return, said the official. The junta said they were under pressure, at times striking a conciliatory tone and apologizing for past disrespect towards the bloc, while also defiantly standing by its decision to overthrow Bazoum and unequivocal about him not returning to power, the official added.

    Tchiani also repeatedly expressed concerns that its former colonial ruler France — which has some 1,500 troops in the country and had been providing training and conducting joint operations with Niger’s military — was actively planning an attack, said the official.

    Niger was seen by many Western countries as the last democratic partner in the region it could work with to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency by militant groups linked with al-Qaida and the Islamic State. France, the United States and other European nations have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into shoring up Niger’s army and the coup has been seen as a major setback.

    Sahel experts say it’s not surprising that nothing came from Saturday’s meeting as each party is trying to show they’re open to discussions, yet the chances of an agreement are slim because their positions are starkly different.

    “ECOWAS and the rest of the international community want to restore President Bazoum and the junta is not on this agenda,” said Seidik Abba, a Nigerien researcher and Sahel specialist and president of the International Center for Reflection for Studies On the Sahel, a think tank based In Paris. “The next step will be military confrontation … What we don’t know is when this confrontation will take place, how it will go, and what the consequences will be,” he said.

    Shortly after the meetings Saturday, Tchiani went on state television and laid out a roadmap for the country, saying it would return to civilian rule within three years and that details for the plan would be decided within 30 days through a national dialogue set to launch immediately.

    “I am convinced that we will find solutions to all the challenges we face and that we will work together to find a way out of the crisis, in the interests of all,” he said.

    Transitions for Niger’s multiple previous coups were shorter, so a three-year timeline is unprecedented said Aneliese Bernard, a former U.S. State Department official who specializes in African affairs and is now director of Strategic Stabilization Advisors, a risk advisory group. “What we’re seeing in the region is the emergence of trends just to military rule,” she said.

    But some Nigerien soldiers don’t think Tchiani will last three months, let alone several years.

    A soldier who worked directly with Bazoum before the coup, and did not want to be named for fear of his safety, told the AP Saturday that there are deep divisions within the presidential guard — the unit that overthrew Bazoum — and within the junta itself.

    Of the nearly 1,000 soldiers at the base on the presidential complex, the majority would flee if ECOWAS attacked, he said. He gave Tchiani a few months before he too is overthrown.

    Tchiani is widely unpopular in security circles within Niger and seen as having reached his current post because of former president Mahamadou Issoufou’s patronage, rather than through his own connections and battlefield achievements, said Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute.

    “While the (junta) has presented a unified public face, it is a partnership of branches of the armed forces that have competed for status and resources in the recent past and further,” he said.

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  • The Taliban are entrenched in Afghanistan after 2 years of rule. Women and girls pay the price

    The Taliban are entrenched in Afghanistan after 2 years of rule. Women and girls pay the price

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    KABUL, Afghanistan — The Taliban have settled in as rulers of Afghanistan, two years after they seized power as U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from the country following two decades of war.

    The Taliban face no significant opposition that could topple them. They have avoided internal divisions by falling in line behind their ideologically unbending leader. They have kept a struggling economy afloat, in part by holding investment talks with capital-rich regional countries, even as the international community withholds formal recognition. They have improved domestic security through crackdowns on armed groups such as the Islamic State, and say they are fighting corruption and opium production.

    But it’s their slew of bans on Afghan girls and women that dominated the Taliban’s second year in charge. They barred them from parks, gyms, universities, and jobs at nongovernmental groups and the United Nations – all in the space of a few months – allegedly because they weren’t wearing proper hijab — the Islamic head covering — or violated gender segregation rules. These orders followed a previous ban, issued in the first year of Taliban rule, on girls going to school beyond sixth grade.

    Here is a closer look at Taliban rule and where they are headed.

    WHY DID THEY EXCLUDE WOMEN FROM HIGHER EDUCATION, MOST JOBS AND PUBLIC SPACES?

    The Taliban say they are committed to implementing their interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia, in Afghanistan. This leaves no space for anything they think is foreign or secular, such as women working or studying. It’s what drove them in the late 1990s, when they first seized power in Afghanistan, and it propels them now, ever since they took control again on Aug. 15, 2021.

    Their supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has praised the changes imposed since the takeover, claiming life improved for Afghan women after foreign troops left and the hijab became mandatory again.

    WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE TO THESE BANS?

    Foreign governments, rights groups, and global bodies condemned the restrictions. The U.N. said they were a major obstacle to the Taliban gaining international recognition as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Overseas aid is drying up as major donors stop their funding, pulled in different directions by other crises and worried their money might fall into Taliban hands.

    The lack of funds, as well as the exclusion of Afghan women from delivering essential humanitarian services, is hitting the population hard, pushing more people into poverty.

    WHAT ARE LIVING CONDITIONS LIKE IN AFGHANISTAN?

    Nearly 80% of the previous, Western-backed Afghan government’s budget came from the international community. That money — now largely cut off — financed hospitals, schools, factories and government ministries. The COVID-19 pandemic, medical shortages, climate change and malnutrition have made life more desperate for Afghans. Aid agencies have stepped into the breach to provide basic services like health care.

    Afghanistan is struggling with its third consecutive year of drought-like conditions, the ongoing collapse in families’ income, and restrictions on international banking. It’s also still suffering from decades of war and natural disasters.

    HOW IS THE ECONOMY DOING?

    The World Bank said last month that the local currency, the afghani, gained value against major currencies. Customers can withdraw more money from individual deposits made before August 2021 and most civil servants are being paid. The World Bank described revenue collection as “healthy” and said most basic items remained available, although demand is low.

    The Taliban have held investment talks with countries in the region, including China and Kazakhstan. They want sanctions removed and billions of dollars in frozen funds to be released, saying these measures will alleviate the suffering of Afghans. But the international community will only take such steps once the Taliban take certain actions, including lifting restrictions on women and girls.

    HOW LIKELY ARE THE TALIBAN TO CHANGE DIRECTION?

    It’s largely up to the Taliban leader, Akhundzada. The cleric counts like-minded government ministers and Islamic scholars among his circle. He is behind the decrees on women and girls. His edicts, framed in the language of Islamic law, are absolute. The bans will only be lifted if Akhundzada orders it. Some Taliban figures have spoken out against the way decisions are made, and there has been disagreement about the bans on women and girls. But the Taliban’s chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid slammed these reports as propaganda.

    “The secret of their success is that they are united,” Abdul Salam Zaeef, who served as the Taliban envoy to Pakistan when they ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s, said. “If someone expresses his opinion or his thoughts, it doesn’t mean someone is against the leadership or will go to another side,” said Zaeef who spent several years at the Guantanamo Bay detention center after the 2001 U.S. invasion. “Disagreements are put in front of the emir (Akhundzada) and he decides. They follow his word.”

    WHAT ABOUT INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION?

    Aid officials say the Taliban view recognition as an entitlement, not something to be negotiated. The officials also cite high-level meetings with powerful states like China and Russia as signs that the Taliban are building bilateral relations in their own way. Qatar’s prime minister met Akhundzada in the southwestern Afghan city of Kandahar in June, the first-such publicly known meeting between the supreme leader and a foreign official.

    Even though the Taliban are officially isolated on the global stage, they appear to have enough interactions and engagement for ties with countries to inch toward normalization. Cooperation with the Taliban on narcotics, refugees and counter-terrorism is of interest globally, including to the West. Countries like China, Russia and neighboring Pakistan want an end to sanctions.

    “The political interactions are such that no country in the region is thinking of bringing Afghanistan under their power or control,” said Zaeef. He said the Taliban’s foreign outreach is hampered by blacklists preventing officials from traveling, and by lacking common ground with the rest of the world.

    WHAT OPPOSITION IS THERE TO THE TALIBAN?

    There’s no armed or political opposition with enough domestic or foreign support to topple the Taliban. A fighting force resisting Taliban rule from the Panjshir Valley north of Kabul is being violently purged. Public protests are rare.

    The Islamic State has struck high-profile targets in deadly bombings, including two government ministries, but the militants lack fighters, money and other resources to wage a major offensive against the Taliban.

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  • Allies of Niger president overthrown by military are appealing to the US and others: Save his life

    Allies of Niger president overthrown by military are appealing to the US and others: Save his life

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    WASHINGTON — After nearly three weeks of appealing to the United States and other allies for help restoring Niger’s president to power, friends and supporters of the democratically elected leader are making a simpler plea: Save his life.

    President Mohamed Bazoum, leader of the last remaining Western-allied democracy across a vast stretch of Africa’s Sahara and Sahel, sits confined with his family in an unlit basement of his presidential compound, cut off from resupplies of food and from electricity and cooking gas by the junta that overthrew him, Niger’s ambassador to the United States told The Associated Press.

    “They are killing him,” said the ambassador, Mamadou Kiari Liman-Tinguiri, a close associate who maintains daily calls with the detained leader. The two have been colleagues for three decades, since the now 63-year-old president was a young philosophy instructor, a teacher’s union leader, and a democracy advocate noted for his eloquence.

    “The plan of the head of the junta is to starve him to death,” Liman-Tinguiri told the AP in one of his first interviews since mutinous troops allegedly cut off food deliveries to the president, his wife and his 20-year-old son almost a week ago.

    “This is inhuman, and the world should not tolerate that,” the ambassador said. “It cannot be tolerated in 2023.”

    On Saturday, the president’s captors allowed a doctor to visit the family for the first time, and brought some food, a presidential adviser told the AP. The adviser, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to give details.

    Bazoum sits in the dark basement, the ambassador said. He answers the phone when a call comes in that he knows to be his friend or someone else he wants to speak to. The beleaguered president and his ambassador, whom junta members have declared out of a job, talk one or more times a day.

    Bazoum has not been seen out in public since July 26, when military vehicles blocked the gates to the presidential palace and security forces announced they were taking power. It is not possible to independently determine the president’s circumstances. The United States, United Nations and others have expressed repeated concern for what they called Bazoum’s deteriorating conditions in detention, and warned the junta they would hold it responsible for the well-being of Bazoum and his family.

    Separately, Human Rights Watch said Friday it had spoken directly to the detained president and to others in his circle, and received some similar accounts of mistreatment.

    However, an activist who supports Niger’s new military rulers in its communications said the reports of the president’s dire state were false. Insa Garba Saidou said he was in contact with some junta members but did not say how he had knowledge of the president’s lot.

    “Bazoum was lucky he was not taken anywhere,” Saidou said. “He was left in his palace with his phone. Those who did that don’t intend to hurt Bazoum.”

    Niger’s military coup and the plight of its ousted leader have drawn global attention — but not because that kind of turmoil is unusual for West Africa. Niger alone has had about a half-dozen military takeovers since independence in 1960. Niger leaders have suffered in coups before, most notably when a military-installed leader was shot down in 1999 by the same presidential guard unit that instigated the current coup.

    Niger’s return to reflexive armed takeovers by disgruntled troops is reverberating in the U.S. and internationally for two key reasons. One is because Bazoum came to power in a rare democratic presidential election in the Africa’s unstable Sahara and Sahel, in the only peaceful, democratic transfer of power that Niger has managed.

    The United States alone has invested close to $1 billion in Niger in recent years to support its democracy and deliver aid, in addition to building national forces capable of holding off north and west Africa’s al-Qaida- and Islamic State-allied armed groups.

    The U.S.-backed counterterror presence is the second key reason that Niger’s coup is resonating. Americans have a 1,100-strong security presence and have built bases in Niger’s capital and far north into its main outposts to counter West Africa’s armed jihadist groups. The Biden administration has yet to call what has happened in Niger a coup, citing laws that would obligate the U.S. to cut many of its military partnerships with the country.

    Niger’s region is dominated by military or military-aligned governments and a growing number of them have entered security partnerships with Russia’s Wagner mercenary groups.

    The soldiers who ousted Bazoum have announced a ruling structure but said little publicly about their plans. U.S. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met with Niger’s junta members in the capital this week but called them unreceptive to her demands to restore Niger’s democracy.

    “They were quite firm about how they want to proceed, and it is not in support of the constitution of Niger,” Nuland told reporters after.

    The junta also told Nuland that Bazoum would die if the regional ECOWAS security bloc intervened militarily to restore democracy, U.S. officials told the AP.

    Late this week, the ambassador shrugged that threat off, saying the junta is already on track to kill Bazoum by trapping his family and him with little more than a shrinking supply of dried rice and no means to cook it.

    Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken several times with the detained president and expressed concern for his and his family’s safety. The U.S. says it has cut some aid to the government and paused military cooperation. Blinken has expressed broad support for ECOWAS, whose diplomatic efforts have been spurned by the Niger junta and which has warned of military force as a last resort.

    Blinken said in a statement Friday he was “particularly dismayed” that Niger’s mutinous soldiers had refused to release Bazoum’s family as a goodwill gesture. He gave no details.

    While the junta adviser Saidou denied that the junta threatened to kill Bazoum if ECOWAS invaded, he said Bazoum’s death would be inevitable if that happened.

    “Even if the high officers of the junta won’t touch Bazoum, if one gun is shot at one of Niger’s borders in order to reinstate Bazoum, I’m sure that there will be soldiers who will put an end to his life,” he said.

    Bazoum told Human Rights Watch that family members and friends who brought food were being turned away, and that the junta had refused treatment for his young son, who has a heart condition.

    Bazoum and his undetained allies want regional partners, the U.S. and others to intervene. With Bazoum vulnerable in captivity, neither he nor the ambassadors specify what they want the U.S. and other allies to do.

    Bazoum is a member of Niger’s tiny minority of nomadic Arabs, in a country of varying cultures rich in tradition. Despite his political career, Bazoum has retained his people’s devotion to livestock, keeping camels that he dotes on, Liman-Tinguiri said.

    For all his deprivations, the ambassador said, Bazoum remains in good spirits. “He is a man who is mentally very strong,” he said. “He’s a man of faith.”

    ___

    Associated Press writer Sam Mednick contributed from Niamey, Niger.

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