In West Africa, Washington says it has sent a delegation
to Nieme in Niger,
a former ally in the fight against Islamist extremism,
to pull its soldiers out of the country.
It is currently a regional hub with more than 1000
U.S.
soldiers stationed there. But the the junta that took over
the country in July
2023 had announced it was ending the two countries military
agreement earlier this year.
France 24 reporter Serial Payan joins me on set.
Welcome to the set, Cyril walk us through the US
presence in Niger.
Until now. I remember about 20 years ago there was
no one and now there's a it's an important regional
hub.
Well it it it did increase during this this past
20 years very much indeed regarding the the jihadist
threat in the in the region which looks like very
much now we are living the the final act or
the checkmate of the American the US strategy especially in
this part of West Africa namely
Niger and this six months after the the French we
were traditional allies as the the former colonial power here
get kicked out also by by the Yunta after the
coup the puch military
coup of 26 August 23.
So final act, yes, because it looks very much that
and This is why American delegation is in Nyami as
you stated trying to to to earn to to win
time to get more access to the country.
It looks like it's really really the final act and
which is emphasizes on the,
on the the presence, the huge influence now of Russia,
Moscow which is really kicking out all the West
from this part of the of the world.
Now what happened in August of last year is that
the president at the time
President Bazoom was arrested, Do we know about his whereabouts,
about the conditions in which he's being held?
Well, it will be 9 months tomorrow.
That has been held in the very
room of a room of the presidential palace where he
was deposed by the very presidential guard guard which are
now in power.
We took the the lead in the country and it's
quite this is Mohammed Bazoom,
so the elected president of Niger.
And it was really huge,
huge surprise for experts of the region after the domino
effects of many coups in the in West Africa,
Mali, Bokina Faso and and Guinea.
Of course that Niger was one of the last stable
country and he turned to be not anymore the case
in like a a few a few days.
So it's very unique to you have this elected president
maybe it's beyond the radar now but who has been
taken hostage for nearly nine months with his wife.
He has no access to telephone,
no outside people just a a doctor.
We can visit him twice a week and we give
some
a few news from him but so far he's stuck
here.
There will. There will no
there will there won't be any international community pressure between
as we know it is totally out of the radar.
They they try the the the junta is trying to
institutionalized his case and to put him on try and
to lose immunity for for treason but that's for now
he refused to resign and he's stuck here.
So he's quite unique. And this is the reality now
of the Niger,
nearly a few months after this military approach or the
region that's turning more and more to Russia for its
safety.
Thank you so much. Celia Bayan there with the analysis
of what's going on in the region.