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Niger coup leader turns to Wagner for help – media

August 7, 2023 TLB Staff MILITARY, WORLD 0

ER Editor: The ECOWAS nations (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo) have probably been under US pressure to issue an ultimatum to the Niger military faction that had launched a coup recently against France and the West. This ultimatum, to reinstate Western puppet Barzoum, came and went yesterday.

Meanwhile, the coup faction in Niger is alleged to have called on the Wagner Group for military backup. So what’s next? Will there be western military intervention in Niger? Yet another one where Western forces are facing Wagner (shades of Ukraine and look how that is shaping up)?

Tweets below are mainly from yesterday (August 6) and today.

Translation: Tens of thousands of coup supporters rally at Niamey stadium in #Niger in support of coup plotters as ECOWAS ultimatum to reinstate President Bazoum or face military intervention ends today.

 

A reminder that the Wagner Group is a highly trained, battle-hardened force operating under REAL military conditions not only in Ukraine but historically in Africa. Various analysts have discussed how western / NATO forces are not, which is why Russia has had such an advantage in Ukraine militarily using the experience of the Wagner mercenaries. Approaching the Wagner Group is therefore a significant gesture on the part of the Niger coup faction.

Readers may be interested in this late 2022 article as to the potential dominance of Russia on the African continent, as well as the Wagner Group’s critical role —

Russia is building its own AFRICOM in Africa, and that’s terrible for US and China

The Rise of PMC Wagner

The rise of Russia-backed mercenary group PMC Wagner/ BTG Wagner is the main cause of concern of the West. When the West was entangled in the Ukraine Conflict, this group quickly usurped the African Continent from the hold of the West. The West realized this when they went to Africa to buy oil and gas in Africa post Russia- Ukraine conflict. The West’s propaganda machine vilified Russia for the last 6-8 months accusing it of invading Ukraine. But in Africa the Wagner group was busy in taking the hold of the African continent. The point of deploying the Wagner Group in Africa before formally deploying its military was due to perception. The West is very smart in creating perception through its media. Due to this reason Wagner was first deployed in the African Continent to lay the ground for Russia’s formal arrival. Russia is possibly the host country for Wagner which executes its strategies informally which the Russian forces cannot carry out officially.

Africa’s Red carpet for Russia

African countries are laying the red carpet for Russia as a consequence of backstabbing by the West and neo-colonialism of China. For decades the West looted Africa, the Scramble for Africa is a living blot on the face of the West which resurfaces every now and then. The neo-Scramble for Africa is accomplished through deploying multiple strategies in the continent. …

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So will the West militarily intervene in Niger? Not according to this commentator —

West Unlikely to Take Military Action Against Niger Rebels, Expert Says

Of note:

Niger’s former colonial ruler France and its US and German backers will not risk launching a military operation in the western African country even as last week’s ouster of a Western-backed president threatens to weaken their control of the vast Sahel region, German geopolitical expert Armin-Paulus Hampel told Sputnik on Friday.
.
The Nigerien capital of Niamey has been awash in rallies staged in support of the coup leadership, which Bazoum claims was helped to power by Russia. Moscow has been calling for the restoration of Niger’s constitutional order.
.
Hampel, a former German lawmaker and foreign affairs spokesperson for the far-right AfD faction in the federal parliament, said France and the US, backed by German armed forces, would likely try to oust the rebel military indirectly, including through the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has threatened military action against Niger if it does not reinstate Bazoum….
…
The expert said that France and the US must have played a very active role in having ECOWAS issue Niger’s junta with an ultimatum that it relinquish power but he argued that the West’s “proxies” in western Africa were unlikely to take any broad military action — beyond imposing sanctions on the impoverished nation, which depends on its neighbors for essentials.
“Nigeria has already cut electricity to Niger, so the situation could worsen but it won’t reach a military large-scale conflict level. The ECOWAS countries are not keen on it, and even the West have enough on their shoulders now, without having to deal at the same time with the Islamists in the region and fight against the government of Niger, that has, by the way, the support of its people,” Hampel said.

********

Niger junta turns to Wagner for help – media

A coup leader has reportedly called on the Russian military contractor following a threat of intervention by neighboring nations

RT

One of the leaders of last week’s coup in Niger has reportedly sought the assistance of Russian defense contractor Wagner Group PMC as the junta nears a deadline to either return the ousted president to power or face a possible military intervention by neighboring states.

General Salifou Moody allegedly made the request during a visit to Mali, where he met with a Wagner representative, the Associated Press reported on Saturday, citing French journalist Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center.

Niger junta turns to Wagner for help – media
FILE PHOTO: Nigeriens, some holding Russian flags, participate in a march called by supporters of coup leader Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani in Niamey, Niger, July 30, 2023 ©  AP / Sam Mednick
.

The meeting was first reported by France 24, and Nasr said he had confirmed the talks with a French diplomat and three people familiar with the matter in Mali.

“They need (Wagner) because they will become their guarantee to hold onto power,” Nasr told AP, claiming that Wagner is considering the request.

Neither Wagner nor Russian government officials have commented on the junta’s alleged request for help from the contractor. The Kremlin said on Friday that any interference in Niger from powers outside the region would be unlikely to improve the situation. “We continue to favor a swift return to constitutional normality without endangering human lives,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has called the coup a “justified rebellion of the people against Western exploitation.” 

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened to send troops into Niger if the coup leaders don’t return President Mohamed Bazoum to power by Sunday. Bazoum has been under house arrest since his ouster and has asked the US “and the entire international community” to restore his government. The militaries of several ECOWAS members, including Nigeria, have agreed on a plan for their intervention in Niger.

Wagner has become a major player in the African security landscape, though it’s unclear how its influence on the continent stands after its mutiny against Moscow in June. (ER: Few are now believing this mutiny was real, that it was instead a strategy to expose traitors.)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that the future of the contracts Wagner signed with various African countries is a matter for those client governments to decide. The firm’s troops have reportedly operated in such countries as Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Mozambique and the Central African Republic.

Mali and Burkina Faso are among the ECOWAS member states that have sided with the Niger junta following the coup. Bazoum accused the two neighbors of employing “criminal Russian mercenaries.”

African Freedom Institute President Franklin Nyamsi warned in an RT interview on Thursday that if ECOWAS carried out its threat to send troops into Niger, it would be seen as a declaration of war on the junta’s allies, including Mali and Burkina Faso. Such a conflict could escalate dramatically as the warring factions seek help from the world’s leading military powers, he said, adding, “We are now at the door of a world African war.”

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Source

Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com

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