As world pressure mounts on leaders of coup in Niger, junta ends mandates of US, France, Nigeria and Togo

As world pressure mounts on leaders of coup in Niger, junta ends mandates of US, France, Nigeria and Togo
Nigeriens hold Niger and Russian flags as they gathers with thousands of anti-sanctions protestors in support of the putschist soldiers in the capital, Niamey, on August 3, 2023. The sign reads "Where was ECOWAS during the terrorist attacks in Niger". (REUTERS/Mahamadou Hamidou)
Short Url
Updated 04 August 2023
Follow

As world pressure mounts on leaders of coup in Niger, junta ends mandates of US, France, Nigeria and Togo

As world pressure mounts on leaders of coup in Niger, junta ends mandates of US, France, Nigeria and Togo
  • The US has offered general support for the effort of regional bloc ECOWAS to reinstate toppled President Mohamed Bazoum
  • Junta threatened an immediate response to any “aggression or attempted aggression,” saying force would be met with force

NIAMEY: Niger’s coup leaders on Thursday evening announced they were ending the mandates of ambassadors to four countries, as they face international pressure to restore the democratically elected leader they ousted last week.

“The functions of the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassadors of the Republic of Niger” to France, Nigeria, Togo and the United States “are terminated,” one of the putschists said in a statement read on national television.

The junta faces international pressure to restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, with threats of force by regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States, currently chaired by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu.

The junta also threatened an immediate response to any “aggression or attempted aggression.”

Any aggression or attempted aggression against the State of Niger will see an immediate and unannounced response from the Niger Defense and Security Forces on one of (the bloc’s) members,” read the statement.




General Abdourahmane Tiani, who was declared as the new head of state of Niger by leaders of a coup, arrives to meet with ministers in Niamey on July 28, 2023. (REUTERS)

This came with “the exception of suspended friendly countries,” an allusion to Burkina Faso and Mali, neighboring countries that have also fallen to military coups in recent years.

Those countries’ juntas have warned any military intervention in Niger would be tantamount to a “declaration of war” against them.

Nigeria, West Africa’s pre-eminent military and economic power, is the current ECOWAS chair and has vowed a firm line against coups.

Military chiefs of the bloc’s member countries met in Nigeria on Wednesday for three days of consultations.

Outside the continent, global condemnation has been led by the United States and former colonial power France, which have about 1,000 and 1,500 troops in the country, respectively.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “stands very much” in support of West African leaders who have threatened to use force to restore the nation’s democracy, and Senegal offered troops to help.

As hundreds of anti-French protesters rallied in the Nigerien capital in support of the ruling junta, Blinken offered general support for the regional bloc known as ECOWAS, though he did not specifically refer to its threat of military action. Blinken told reporters in New York that the US believes the bloc’s efforts to reinstate toppled President Mohamed Bazoum are “important, strong and have our support.”
Senegal’s foreign affairs minister said her country would participate in a military intervention if ECOWAS decides to take action. “Senegalese soldiers have to go … these coups d’état must be stopped,” Aissata Tall Sall said.

Meanwhile, Niger’s military leaders sought to exploit anti-Western sentiment to shore up their takeover. The junta suspended broadcaster RFI and France 24 television from broadcasting in the country, according to the French foreign affairs ministry. The suspensions were part of the junta’s “authoritarian repression,” the ministry wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Last week’s coup toppled Bazoum, whose ascendency marked Niger’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since independence from France in 1960. The coup stirred strident anti-French sentiment and raised questions about the future of the fight against extremism in Africa’s Sahel region, where Russia and Western countries have vied for influence.

The coup has been condemned by Western countries and the ECOWAS bloc, which has threatened to forcibly remove the junta if it does not hand back power to Bazoum. As tensions have grown in the capital of Niamey and the region, many European countries have moved to evacuate their citizens.
At Thursday’s protest organized by the junta and civil society groups on Niger’s independence day, protesters pumped their fists in the air and chanted support for neighboring countries that have also seen military takeovers in recent years. Some waved Russian flags, and one man brandished a Russian and Nigerien flag sewn together.
“For more than 13 years, the Nigerien people have suffered injustices,” protester Moctar Abdou Issa said. The junta “will get us out of this, God willing … they will free the Nigerien people.”
“We’re sick of the French,” he added.
It remains unclear whether a majority of the population supports the coup, and in many parts of the capital, people went about their lives on Thursday as normal.
US President Joe Biden used the occasion of Niger’s independence day to call for Bazoum to be released and democracy restored.
“The Nigerien people have the right to choose their leaders. They have expressed their will through free and fair elections — and that must be respected,” he said in a statement.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the administration was still focused on diplomacy.
“We still believe there’s time and space for that. The window is not going to be open forever,” Kirby said.
In an address to the nation on Wednesday, the new military ruler, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, lashed out at those who have condemned the coup and called on the population to be ready to defend the nation. He said harsh sanctions imposed last week by ECOWAS were illegal, unfair and inhuman.
There were fears the junta could limit the export of uranium from Niger, which contributes 5 percent of the global share, according to the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
The ECOWAS bloc has set a deadline of Sunday for the junta to reinstate Bazoum, who remains under house arrest.
At the expiration of the deadline, the bloc is expected to decide by consensus on the next step as recommended by its defense chiefs.
At a bloc meeting in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, Brig. Gen. Tukur Ismaila Gusau, a Nigeria defense spokesman, said the defense chiefs have been asked to come up with a military solution, which they hope will be “the last option.”
The bloc’s sanctions include halting energy transactions with Niger, which gets up to 90 percent of its power from neighboring Nigeria, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
France has 1,500 soldiers in Niger who conduct joint operations with its military against jihadis linked to Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group. The United States and other European countries have helped train Niger’s troops.
Niger was seen as the West’s last reliable partner in the region, but some in the country see Russia and its Wagner mercenary group, which operates in a handful of African countries, as a powerful alternative.
The new junta has not said whether it intends to ally with Moscow or stick with Niger’s Western partners, but that question has become central to the unfolding political crisis. Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso — both ruled by juntas — have turned toward Moscow.
Even if Niger’s military rulers demand the withdrawal of French troops — as happened in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso — it wouldn’t make a difference, said Anne-Claire Legendre, a spokesperson for the French foreign minister.
“We don’t answer to the putschists. We recognize one constitutional order and one legitimacy only, that of President Bazoum,” she said Wednesday during a press briefing.
Ahead of Thursday’s demonstration, the French Embassy in Niamey asked Niger’s government to ensure the security of its premises after it was attacked by protesters and a door was set on fire.
The president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, dispatched two delegations Thursday to deal with Niger’s crisis.
A group from ECOWAS headed by former Nigerian head of state Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar was on its way to Niger. A second group led by Ambassador Babagana Kingibe went to engage with the leaders of Libya and Algeria, said Ajuri Ngelale, special adviser to the president.
 


Finland closes Russian border for 2 weeks to stop asylum seekers

Updated 4 sec ago
Follow

Finland closes Russian border for 2 weeks to stop asylum seekers

Finland closes Russian border for 2 weeks to stop asylum seekers
HELSINKI: Finland will close its entire border with Russia to travelers for the next two weeks in a bid to halt a flow of asylum seekers to the Nordic nation, the government said on Tuesday.
Finland last week shut all but one of its remaining border posts to travelers from Russia, keeping open only the northernmost crossing located in the Arctic. But this too would now close, allowing only goods transport, the government said.
Some 900 asylum seekers from nations including Kenya, Morocco, Pakistan, Somalia, Syria and Yemen have entered Finland from Russia in November, an increase from less than one per day previously, according to the Finnish Border Guard.
The decision means only freight traffic can pass between the two countries.

Singapore sees logistics, green energy opportunities under Saudi Vision 2030

Singapore sees logistics, green energy opportunities under Saudi Vision 2030
Updated 20 min 43 sec ago
Follow

Singapore sees logistics, green energy opportunities under Saudi Vision 2030

Singapore sees logistics, green energy opportunities under Saudi Vision 2030
  • Saudi Arabia, Singapore elevated their ties to strategic partnership during PM Lee’s visit last month 
  • Manpower Minister Tan See Leng tells Arab News about Singapore’s interests in deepening cooperation 

SINGAPORE: Singapore sees growth opportunities in logistics, transport and green energy under the Saudi Vision 2030, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said on Tuesday, as the two countries have recently elevated their ties to a strategic level. 

Saudi Arabia and Singapore agreed to strengthen relations during an official visit by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the Kingdom and his meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman last month. 

The visit was preceded by seven memoranda of understanding to facilitate investment opportunities, which were inked during the third session of the Saudi-Singapore Joint Committee held in Riyadh, led by Tan, who is also the city state’s second minister for trade and industry, and Saudi Transport and Logistic Services Minister Saleh Al-Jasser. 

“Minister of Transport and Logistic Services Eng. Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser and I reaffirmed our commitment to growing our countries’ bilateral ties,” Tan told Arab News. 

“With Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030, the country has seen new growth areas for Singapore’s businesses on many fronts, such as in logistics, transport and green energy. I had shared with His Excellency Al-Jasser Singapore’s interests to deepen our cooperation in the ports and logistics sectors and Singaporean companies’ interest to participate in projects arising from Vision 2030.” 

Singapore’s Manpower Minister Tan See Leng signs an agreement with Saudi Transport and Logistic Services Minister Saleh Al-Jasser, Riyadh, Oct. 17, 2023. (Tan See Leng)

Singapore, Asia’s top logistics hub, has been ranked by the World Bank as the first in the world for logistics competence, infrastructure and timeliness of services. 

During the Saudi-Singapore Joint Committee’s recent sessions, the Saudi Ports Authority, known as Mawani, and Saudi Global Ports, a subsidiary of Singapore’s port operator PSA, signed an agreement to establish an integrated logistics zone at the King Abdulaziz Port in Dammam. 

“The development of the integrated logistics zone is one of SGP’s partnerships with Mawani on its Vision 2030 roadmap to grow Saudi Arabia as a logistics hub,” Tan said. 

“On the energy front, I was pleased that Minister of Energy Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and I signed the Energy Cooperation Roadmap. Through this, we will see closer cooperation in areas such as low-carbon solutions and technologies, renewable energy, energy efficiency and innovation for decarbonization. Prince Abdulaziz and I also discussed our countries’ commitment to our energy transition.” 

This year’s joint committee meeting also saw in attendance representatives of the private sector from the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Singapore Business Federation, as well as members of a business delegation from Singapore, which signed five memoranda with the Saudi Ministry of Investment to facilitate their entry into the Kingdom. 

Tan said that Singaporean companies were also interested in working together with Saudis in the fields of oil and gas, tourism and hospitality, urban infrastructure and education sectors. 

He gave as an example Surbana Jurong, a Singaporean government-owned consulting company focusing on infrastructure and urban development, which has already established offices in Riyadh to work on design consultancy in NEOM, the Kingdom’s flagship smart-city megaproject under Vision 2030. 

“I am also glad that (the Saudi Ministry of Investment) has set up a Singapore office earlier this year in September, to promote investments into the Kingdom and facilitate Saudi companies tapping into Singapore to expand into Asia,” Tan said. 

“With these developments, I hope that in the years to come, there will be greater presence by Singapore companies in the Kingdom, and that more Saudi companies will explore using Singapore as a launchpad into Southeast Asia.”


Baltic nations’ foreign ministers pull out of OSCE meeting over Russian foreign minister attendance

Baltic nations’ foreign ministers pull out of OSCE meeting over Russian foreign minister attendance
Updated 25 min 3 sec ago
Follow

Baltic nations’ foreign ministers pull out of OSCE meeting over Russian foreign minister attendance

Baltic nations’ foreign ministers pull out of OSCE meeting over Russian foreign minister attendance
  • Lavrov said Monday he planned to travel to Skopje for the OSCE foreign ministers’ meeting
  • “For the past two years we have witnessed how one OSCE participating state has actively and brutally tried to annihilate another,” the Baltic foreign ministers said

SKOPJE: The foreign ministers of the three Baltic states have said they will boycott a meeting by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe being held this week in North Macedonia, in objection to the participation of Russia’s foreign minister.
The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued a joint statement Tuesday saying they “deeply regret the decision enabling the personal participation” of Russia’s Sergey Lavrov. “It will only provide Russia with yet another propaganda opportunity.”
Lavrov said Monday he planned to travel to Skopje for the OSCE foreign ministers’ meeting, a trip which would mark his first visit to a NATO member country since Russia invaded Ukraine. In September, he was in New York to attend the United Nations’ annual gathering of world leaders.
The 57-nation OSCE was set up during the Cold War to help defuse tension between East and West. North Macedonia currently holds the organization’s rotating presidency and its foreign minister invited Lavrov to the two-day meeting starting Thursday.
“For the past two years we have witnessed how one OSCE participating state has actively and brutally tried to annihilate another,” the Baltic foreign ministers said in their statement. “Let us be very clear: Russia’s war of aggression and atrocities against its sovereign and peaceful neighbor Ukraine blatantly violate international law.”
They also accused Russia of “obstructive behavior within the OSCE itself,” citing Russia’s prevention of an OSCE presence in Ukraine and by blocking Estonia’s chairmanship of the organization in 2024. Lavrov’s attendance at the Skopje meeting “risks legitimizing aggressor Russia as a rightful member of our community of free nations, trivializing the atrocious crimes Russia has been committing,” they added.
Speaking to reporters at NATO headquarters in Brussels Tuesday, North Macedonia’s foreign minister, Bujar Osmani, said he believed he would be meeting Lavrov in Skopje.
“Lavrov is not coming to Skopje, in a way. Lavrov is coming to the OSCE just as he went to (the) UN in New York a few months ago,” Osmani said. “I won’t be meeting him as the foreign minister of North Macedonia, but as the OSCE chairman in office.”
Asked what he would say to Lavrov, Osmani said: “I think the Russian Federation has violated (the) commitments of OSCE principles that we have voluntarily subscribed to 50 years ago.”
“We have condemned the aggressor throughout our chairpersonship. And also we have turned (the) OSCE into a platform for political and legal accountability of the Russian Federation for its deeds in Ukraine, and we will continue to do so. And this is what I am going to tell to Mr. Lavrov as well.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry to the statement by the three Baltic states.


Indian rescuers break through debris to reach 41 men trapped in tunnel

Indian rescuers break through debris to reach 41 men trapped in tunnel
Updated 28 min 40 sec ago
Follow

Indian rescuers break through debris to reach 41 men trapped in tunnel

Indian rescuers break through debris to reach 41 men trapped in tunnel
  • Process of pulling out the 41 laborers, one at a time on wheeled stretchers through a narrow pipe, is due to begin soon
  • Low-wage workers have been stuck in 4.5 km tunnel in Uttarakhand state in northern India since it collapsed on Nov. 12

SILKYARA: Indian rescuers broke through rocks and debris on Tuesday to reach 41 construction workers trapped in a collapsed tunnel in the Himalayas for 17 days.
The process of pulling out the 41 laborers, one at a time on wheeled stretchers through a narrow pipe 90 cm (3 feet) wide, was due to begin soon, officials said.
Three teams, each of four rescuers, would first enter the area where the men are trapped to prepare them to be pulled, said Syed Ata Hasnain, a member of the National Disaster Management Authority that is overseeing rescue efforts.
“We have been involved in this for more than 400 hours and are taking all safety precautions until the end,” he told reporters in New Delhi, adding it would take three to five minutes to remove each of the 41 trapped laborers.
The men, low-wage workers from India’s poorest state, have been stuck in the 4.5 km (3 mile) tunnel in Uttarakhand state, in northern India, since it collapsed on Nov. 12.
They have been getting food, water, light, oxygen and medicines through a pipe but efforts to dig a tunnel to rescue them with high-powered drilling machines were frustrated by a series of snags.
Government agencies managing the unprecedented crisis turned on Monday to “rat miners” to drill through the rocks and gravel by hand from inside a 90 cm (3 feet) wide evacuation pipe pushed through the debris after machinery failed.
The miners are experts at a primitive, hazardous and controversial method used mostly to get at coal deposits through narrow passages, and get their name because they resemble burrowing rats.
The miners, brought from central India, worked through Monday night and finally broke through the estimated 60-meters of rocks, earth and metal on Tuesday afternoon.
“Work of laying pipes in the tunnel to take out workers has been completed,” Uttarakhand state chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said on the X social media platform, thanking the Hindu deity, Baba Baukh Nag Ji, as well as the millions of Indian who prayed for the men and the tireless rescuers.
“Soon, all the laborer brothers will be taken out.”
AMBITIOUS PROJECT
Dozens of rescue workers with ropes, ladders and stretchers entered the tunnel and 41 ambulances were lined up outside to take the 41 men to a hospital about 30 km away.
Helicopters were on standby there to fly workers to a larger hospital in the city of Rishikesh in case any of them needed specialist attention.
A makeshift medical facility with 10 beds and oxygen cylinders was also set up inside the tunnel for those who might need emergency care on site, officials said.
Some rescue workers in hard hats made victory signs and posed for pictures. Others carried marigold garlands to welcome the workers out in traditional Indian style.
Relatives of the trapped men, who have been camping near the site, were taken inside the tunnel with luggage, ready to accompany the men to hospital.
“As he comes out, my heart will revive again,” the father of a trapped worker, who give his name as just Chaudhary, said of his son, Manjeet Chaudhary.
Villagers also gathered outside the tunnel, some singing Hindu devotional songs and raising slogans in praise of the Hindu god Lord Ram on hearing news of the breakthrough.
Others gathered on nearly slopes hoping to catch a glimpse of the men as they are brought out.
The men have been getting cooked food since a lifeline pipe was pushed through last week, including flat breads, lentils and vegetable curry.
More than a dozen doctors, including psychiatrists, have been at the site, talking to the men through the pipe and monitoring their health.
They were advised to do light yoga exercises, walk around in the space they have been confined to, and keep speaking to each other.
The tunnel is part of the $1.5 billion Char Dham highway, one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s most ambitious projects, aimed at connecting four Hindu pilgrimage sites through an 890- km network of roads.
Authorities have not said what caused the cave-in but the region is prone to landslides, earthquakes and floods.
The tunnel did not have an emergency exit and was built through a geological fault, a member of a panel of experts investigating the disaster has told Reuters.
The Char Dham project has faced criticism from environmental experts and some work was halted after hundreds of houses were damaged by subsidence along the route.
The government has said it employed environmentally sound techniques to make geologically unstable stretches safer.
It also ordered the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to audit 29 tunnels being built across India.


Philippine government and communist rebels agree to resume peace talks

Philippine government and communist rebels agree to resume peace talks
Updated 28 November 2023
Follow

Philippine government and communist rebels agree to resume peace talks

Philippine government and communist rebels agree to resume peace talks
  • High-ranking delegations agree to a ‘common vision for peace’ that sought to address key obstacles
  • Past administrations had engaged in on and off peace negotiations with communist rebels

COPENHAGEN: The Philippine government and the country’s communist rebels have agreed to resume talks aimed at ending decades of armed conflict, one of Asia’s longest, Norwegian mediators announced Tuesday.
High-ranking delegations from both sides met in the Norwegian capital last week and agreed to a “common vision for peace” that sought to address key obstacles, according to Norway’s foreign ministry.
Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the deal was signed at “an important signing ceremony” on Thursday but was only made public Tuesday.
The Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, have fought successive Philippine governments since 1969. The rebellion, which opposes the Philippines’ close ties with the US and wants left-wing parties to be part of the government, has left about 40,000 combatants and civilians dead and has stunted economic development in the impoverished countryside. The military says a few thousand Maoist insurgents are continuing to wage the insurgency.
Past administrations had engaged in on and off peace negotiations with communist rebels. Former President Rodrigo Duterte ended peace talks in March 2019, accusing the rebels of attacks on police and military outposts. The US, the European Union and the Philippine government consider the NPA as a terrorist organization because of its attacks targeting civilians.
Last year, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office as the new president and appeared more open to peace talks. He granted amnesty last week to several insurgent groups, including NPA, for offenses including rebellion, sedition and illegal assembly, but not those suspected of kidnapping, killing, terrorism or similar serious crimes.
Marcos’ namesake father declared martial law in the Philippines in 1972, imprisoning thousands of suspected rebels and communist supporters, until he was ousted in a 1986 popular uprising.
The Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the umbrella group representing the rebels, said in their joint statement that they “recognize the need to unite as a nation in order to urgently address these challenges and resolve the reasons for the armed conflict.”
They “agree to a principled and peaceful resolution of the armed conflict.”
“We envision and look forward to a country where a united people can live in peace and prosperity,” the statement said. The text was the result of several informal discussions between the sides held in the Netherlands and Norway since the beginning of 2022.
”I was happy to hear the parties’ decision to finally end the more than 50-year-long conflict in the Philippines,” said Barth Eide, who witnessed the signing. He said that ”extensive work” remained and that Norway “looks forward to continuing to assist the parties toward a final peace agreement.”