Why is instability in Niger a problem for the US and its allies?

 

Last week the military in Niger seized power, detailing President Mohamed Bazoum. A coup that drew international condemnation and the threat of military intervention by ECOWAS, the West African Economic and Monetary Union.

Politics and polemics: What the coup in Niger tells us

A military takeover in Niger as the Kremlin and Russian mercenaries lurk on the sidelines and the airwaves. But would Russia be any less exploitative than Niger’s old colonial masters?

Niger on edge as ECOWAS deadline approaches for coup leaders | DW News

The deadline imposed by the West African regional bloc ECOWAS is set to expire within hours. Pressure is mounting on Niger's coup leaders to reinstate ousted President Muhammad Bazoum. ECOWAS military chiefs of staff have agreed on a plan for a possible military intervention to respond to the crisis.
 

Trump finally calls widow of fallen Army soldier — only to tell her ‘he knew what he signed up for’

After making the issue of the four soldiers who died in Niger two weeks ago all about himself Donald Trump called the widow of Army Sgt. La David Johnson had this truly sympathetic statement of condolence to make. (That is sarcasm)

Donald Trump on Tuesday finally called the families of four U.S. soldiers who were killed during an ambush in Niger earlier this month, only to tell the widow of U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson, “he knew what he signed up for.”

“Yes, he said it,” Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Miami Gardens) told ABC. “It’s so insensitive. He should have not have said that. He shouldn’t have said it.”

Trump called Tuesday afternoon and spoke to Johnson’s widow, who’s pregnant with her third child to the deceased Army soldier. Johnson is also survived by a 2-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.

When asked by a reporter at a press conference on Monday Donald Trump in his usual tone deaf and insensitive manner the deaths of the four Special Operations soldiers all about himself. Rather than showing any kind of empathy for the four men who died or their families.  

Piracy in Nigeria

People and Power investigates the rise of piracy in the oil-rich Niger Delta region.

The event followed a now familiar pattern: a small convoy of dusty 4x4 vehicles drove on to the edge of the airstrip at Galkayo in Puntland, north-central Somalia; armed security guards took up watchful positions nearby and a number of bemused-looking men stepped gingerly from the cars and lined up to have their photographs taken by the media.

On this occasion there were 11 of them; all had been hostages until that morning. They were sailors from a Malaysian cargo vessel that had been hijacked by Somali pirates a few years ago and held until a ransom was paid for their release.