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)
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Updated 04 August 2023
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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.
 


The US and China have agreed on a framework to resolve their trade disputes

Updated 8 sec ago
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The US and China have agreed on a framework to resolve their trade disputes

LONDON: Senior US and Chinese negotiators have agreed on a framework to move forward on trade talks after a series of disputes had threatened to derail them, Chinese state media said Wednesday.
The announcement followed two days of talks in the British capital that ended late Tuesday.
The disputes had shaken a fragile truce reached in Geneva last month, leading to a phone call last week between President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping to try to calm the waters.
Li Chenggang, a vice minister of commerce and China’s international trade representative, said the two sides had agreed in principle on a framework for implementing the consensus reached between the two leaders and at the talks on Geneva, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
Further details, including any plans for a potential next round of talks, were not immediately available.
Li and Wang Wentao, China’s commerce minister, were part of the delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng. They met with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at Lancaster House, a 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace.
Wendy Cutler, a former US trade negotiator, said the disputes had frittered away 30 of the 90 days the two sides have to try to resolve their disputes.
They had agreed in Geneva to a 90-day suspension of most of the 100 percent-plus tariffs they had imposed on each other in an escalating trade war that had sparked fears of recession.
“The US and China lost valuable time in restoring their Geneva agreements,” said Cutler, now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “Now, only sixty days remain to address issues of concern, including unfair trade practices, excess capacity, transshipment and fentanyl.”
Since the Geneva talks, the US and China have exchanged angry words over advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence, visas for Chinese students at American universities and rare earth minerals that are vital to carmakers and other industries.
China, the world’s biggest producer of rare earths, has signaled it may ease export restrictions it placed on the elements in April. The restrictions alarmed automakers around the world who rely on them. Beijing, in turn, wants the US to lift restrictions on Chinese access to the technology used to make advanced semiconductors.
Cutler said it would be unprecedented for the US to negotiate on its export controls, which she described as an irritant that China has been raising for nearly 20 years.
“By doing so, the US has opened a door for China to insist on adding export controls to future negotiating agendas,” she said.
Trump said earlier that he wants to “open up China,” the world’s dominant manufacturer, to US products.
“If we don’t open up China, maybe we won’t do anything,” Trump said at the White House. “But we want to open up China.”


Pakistan hikes defense budget 20 percent following conflict with India, but overall spending is cut

Updated 3 min 26 sec ago
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Pakistan hikes defense budget 20 percent following conflict with India, but overall spending is cut

  • Finance minister says 14 percent of the proposed 17.57 trillion rupees ($62 billion) budget will go to the military
  • India in February increased its defense spending by 9.5 percent to a record high of $78.8 billion for 2025-2026

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has hiked defense spending by 20 percent following last month’s deadly conflict with India.
The government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the increase as part of the budget for the fiscal year 2025-26, in which overall spending will be cut by 7 percent to 17.57 trillion rupees ($62 billion).

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the budget to parliament on Tuesday evening, allocating 14 percent to the military.

It comes after Pakistan’s government announced Friday on social media that it was in discussions to acquire 40 new Chinese fighter jets and new air defense systems.

Pakistan and India were pushed to the brink of war earlier this year after a gun massacre of tourists in Indian-controlled Kashmir, marking the biggest breakdown in relations between them since 2019.

More than 70 people were killed in the four-day conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors in May before a ceasefire was announced.
 

Aurangzeb said the government was allocating 2.55 trillion rupees ($9 billion) for defense compared with 2.12 trillion rupees in the previous budget.
India in February increased its defense spending by 9.5 percent to a record high of $78.8 billion for 2025-2026.

Sharif told the Cabinet: “All economic indicators are satisfactory. After defeating India in a conventional war, now we have to go beyond it in the economic field as well.”
Opposition members of the National Assembly verbally abused Aurangzeb, chanting slogans, throwing scrunched-up copies of the budget at him, whistling, and banging their desks as he gave his address.
The coming year’s defense allocation is considerably more than the government’s expenditure on higher education, agricultural development, and mitigating climate-related risks, to which Pakistan is especially prone.

Brink of default

Pakistan came to the brink of default in 2023, as a political crisis compounded an economic downturn and drove the nation’s debt burden to terminal levels, before it was saved by a $7 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
It has since then enjoyed a degree of recovery, with inflation easing and foreign exchange reserves increasing.
“We have moved in the right direction,” Aurangzeb said at a briefing ahead of the budget announcement in parliament.
“Any transformation takes two to three years and we have done a good job in terms of where we wanted to take things.”
The budget will be voted on by parliament later this month, but the government’s safe majority means only minor changes are expected.
An economic survey released on Monday for the outgoing fiscal year which ends on June 30, showed that the country missed almost all the targets set at the beginning of the year, with GDP expected to grow by 2.7 percent — falling short of the initial 3.6 percent target set in the last budget.
The government has set an ambitious target of 4.2 percent GDP growth for the next fiscal year.
The budget set aside 8 trillion rupees ($28.4 billion) to service its huge amount of debt.
A World Bank report said last week that nearly 45 percent of Pakistan’s 240 million population is living below the poverty line, while the country’s literacy rate stands at 61 percent.
It is the government’s second budget since coming to power last year, in an election which saw the wildly popular leader Imran Khan jailed for charges he says were politically motivated.

 


Los Angeles mayor imposes curfew on downtown following increased nighttime violence

Updated 11 June 2025
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Los Angeles mayor imposes curfew on downtown following increased nighttime violence

  • The curfew is a necessary measure to protect lives and safeguard property following several consecutive days of growing unrest throughout the city

LOS ANGELES: Mayor Karen Bass issued a curfew for downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday “to stop the vandalism, to stop the looting.”
She said in a news conference that she had declared a local emergency and that the curfew will run from 8 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
“We reached a tipping point” after 23 businesses were looted, Bass said.
The curfew will be in place in a 1 square mile (2.59 square kilometer) section of downtown that includes the area where protests have occurred since Friday. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 500 square miles (2,295 square kilometers).
The curfew doesn’t apply to residents who live in the designated area, people who are homeless, credentialed media or public safety and emergency officials, according to Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell.
McDonnell said “unlawful and dangerous behavior” had been escalating since Saturday.
“The curfew is a necessary measure to protect lives and safeguard property following several consecutive days of growing unrest throughout the city,” McDonnell said.
Earlier Tuesday, National Guard troops began protecting immigration agents as they made arrests in Los Angeles on Tuesday, an expansion of their duties that had been limited to protecting federal property. Photos posted Tuesday by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement show National Guard troops standing guard around officers as they made arrests.
ICE said in a statement that the troops were providing security at federal facilities and protecting federal officers “who are out on daily enforcement operations.” The change moves troops closer to engaging in law enforcement actions like deportations as President Donald Trump has promised as part of the administration’s immigration crackdown.
The agency said Guard members are also providing support with transportation. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers but any arrests ultimately would be made by law enforcement.
National Guard troops and Marines deployed to LA
California Gov. Gavin Newsom had asked a federal court to block the Trump administration from using the National Guard and Marines to assist with immigration raids in Los Angeles, saying it would only heighten tensions and promote civil unrest.
Newsom filed the emergency request after Trump ordered the deployment to LA of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines following protests of the president’s stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws.
The federal government said Newsom was seeking an unprecedented and dangerous order that would interfere with its ability to carry out enforcement operations. A judge set a hearing for Thursday.
The Marines and another 2,000 National Guard troops were sent to LA on Monday, adding to a military presence that local officials and Newsom do not want and that the police chief says makes it harder to handle the protests safely.
Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith said Tuesday that the Marines had not yet been called to respond to the protests and were there only to protect federal officials and property. The Marines were trained for crowd control but have no arrest authority, Smith told a budget hearing on Capitol Hill.
Marines were not seen on the streets yet, while National guard troops so far have had limited engagement with protesters.
Trump says he’s open to using Insurrection Act
Trump left open the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act, which authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the US to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. It’s one of the most extreme emergency powers available to a US president.
“If there’s an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it. We’ll see,” he said from the Oval Office.
Later the president called protesters “animals” and “a foreign enemy” in a speech at Fort Bragg ostensibly to recognize the 250th anniversary of the US Army.
Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms that Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom say are nowhere close to the truth.
The protests began Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.
The demonstrations have been mostly concentrated downtown in the city of 4 million and have been far less raucous since the weekend. Thousands of people have peacefully rallied outside City Hall and hundreds more protested outside a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids.
Several businesses were broken into Monday, though authorities didn’t say if the looting was tied to the protests. Nejdeh Avedian, general manager at St. Vincent Jewelry Center in the Los Angeles Jewelry District said the protesters had already left, and “these guys were just opportunists,” though St. Vincent’s had armed guards and was left alone.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Tuesday that protesters have hurled rocks and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement, set vehicles on fire, defaced buildings and public property and set fire to American flags.
The Los Angeles Police Department said there have been more than 100 arrests. The vast majority were for failing to disperse, while a few others were for assault with a deadly weapon, looting, vandalism and attempted murder for tossing a Molotov cocktail. Seven police officers were reportedly injured, and at least two were taken to a hospital and released.
On Tuesday, a few dozen protesters gathered peacefully in front of the federal complex, which was quickly declared an unlawful assembly. Police issued a dispersal order and corralled the protesters, telling members of the media to stay out to avoid getting hurt. Officers with zip ties then started making arrests.
Obscene slogans directed at Trump and federal law enforcement remained scrawled across several buildings. At the Walt Disney Concert Hall, workers were busy washing away graffiti Tuesday.
In nearby Santa Ana, armored Guard vehicles blocked a road leading to federal immigration and government offices.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested Tuesday that the use of troops inside the US will continue to expand.
“I think we’re entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland,” he said on Capitol Hill.
Los Angeles officials say police don’t need help

The mayor and the governor say Trump is putting public safety at risk by adding military personnel even though police say they don’t need the help.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said he was confident in the police department’s ability to handle the demonstrations and that the Marines’ arrival without coordinating with police would present a “significant logistical and operational challenge.”
Demonstrations have spread to other cities nationwide, including San Francisco, as well as Dallas and Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York City, where a thousand people rallied and multiple arrests were made.
LA response takes stage on Capitol Hill
The Pentagon said deploying the National Guard and Marines costs $134 million.
Meanwhile, Democratic members of California’s congressional delegation on Tuesday accused the president of creating a “manufactured crisis.”
On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit seeking to halt the deployment.
Trump said the city would have been “completely obliterated” if he had not deployed the Guard.
The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration’s mass deportation efforts.


Two killed, 28 wounded in Russian strikes on Kharkiv: Ukraine official

Updated 11 June 2025
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Two killed, 28 wounded in Russian strikes on Kharkiv: Ukraine official

KYIV, Ukraine: Russian strikes on Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv killed two people and wounded 28 early Wednesday, the mayor said.
“Seventeen strikes by enemy UAVs  were carried out in two districts of the city this night,” Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov said on Telegram, later adding: “There is information about two dead already.”


Northern Ireland town hit by ‘racially motivated’ riot

Updated 11 June 2025
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Northern Ireland town hit by ‘racially motivated’ riot

  • “This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,” Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said
  • Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court Monday

BALLYMENA, United Kingdom: Northern Irish police said Tuesday that 15 officers were injured in clashes after “racially motivated” attacks sparked by the arrest of two teenagers for the attempted rape of a young girl.
The unrest in the town of Ballymena, some 30 miles  northwest of Belfast, erupted Monday night after a vigil in a neighborhood where an alleged serious sexual assault happened on Saturday.
“This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,” Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said.
Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high on Tuesday, as residents described the scenes as “terrifying” and told AFP those involved were targeting “foreigners.”
Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court Monday, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said.
The trouble began when masked people “broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties,” police said.
Houses and businesses were attacked and three people had to be evacuated, the Police Service of Northern Ireland  said, adding it was investigating “hate attacks.”
Security forces also came under “sustained attack” with petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks thrown by rioters, injuring 15 officers including some who required hospital treatment, according to the force.
One 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with riotous behavior, disorderly behavior, attempted criminal damage and resisting police.
Four houses were damaged by fire, and windows and doors of homes and businesses smashed.
Cornelia Albu, 52, a Romanian migrant and mother-of-two who lives opposite a house targeted in the attacks said her family had been “very scared.”
“Last night it was crazy because too many people came here and tried to put the house on fire,” Albu, who works in a factory, told AFP.
“My family was very scared,” she said, adding she would have to move but was worried she would not find another place to live because she was Romanian.
A 22-year-old woman who lives next door to a burnt-out house in the same Clonavon neighborhood said the night had been “terrifying.”
“People were going after foreigners, whoever they were, or how innocent they were,” the woman, who did not want to share her name for security reasons, told AFP.
“But there were local people indoors down the street scared as hell.”
Northern Ireland saw racism-fueled disorder in August after similar riots in English towns and cities.
According to Mark, 24, who did not share his last name, the alleged rape on the weekend was “just a spark.”
“The foreigners around here don’t show respect to the locals, they come here, don’t integrate,” said Mark.
Another man was halfway up a ladder, hanging a Union Jack flag in front of his house as a “precaution — so people know it’s not a foreigner living here.”
“Ballymena has a large migrant population, a lot of people actually work in the town and provide excellent work,” Mayor Jackson Minford told AFP.
“Last night unfortunately has probably scared a lot of people. We are actively working to identify those responsible and bring them to justice,” said Henderson.
Footage on social media appeared to show protesters smashing the windows of houses and some masked individuals kicking in doors.
A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the “disorder” in Ballymena was “very concerning.”
“Obviously, the reports of sexual assault in the area are extremely distressing, but there is no justification for attacks on police officers,” Downing Street added.