The officers who took power in Niger last month said Thursday they would authorize the armies of neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene in the country “in the event of aggression.”
The foreign ministers of Burkina Faso and Mali, Olivia Rouamba and Abdoulaye Diop, visited Niamey on Thursday, where they were received by Niger’s new ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani.
They welcomed the signing of orders authorizing the armies of Burkina Faso and Mali “to intervene on Niger territory in the event of aggression,” said a statement read out by the deputy secretary general of Niger’s foreign ministry.
Army officers toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, prompting the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to threaten to use force to reinstate him.
Niger is the fourth nation in West Africa since 2020 to suffer a coup, following Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali.
The juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali have said that any military intervention in their neighbor would be considered a “declaration of war” against their countries.
And Tiani warned in a televised address on Saturday: “If an attack were to be undertaken against us, it will not be the walk in the park some people seem to think.”
