Niger's junta must "come to reason" and return power to ousted President Mohamed Bazoum before the country and the wider region collapse, Niamey's ambassador to Washington said Thursday.
"If Niger collapses, the entire Sahel will collapse, will be destabilised," Ambassador Kiari Liman-Tinguiri told AFP in an interview on Niger's independence day, as the future of Western economic and security aid hang in the balance for the landlocked West African country facing multiple conflicts with violent extremists.
"The junta should come to reason, realise that this affair cannot succeed, and prevent useless, inevitable suffering for our people and hand back power," said Liman-Tinguiri, who remains a recognised diplomat in Washington and considers himself a representative of the "legitimate" President Bazoum, detained by his guards since late last month.
Explained | What led to the coup in Niger? Does it follow a wider pattern in the Sahel?
A few hours later, the junta in Niamey announced that it was sacking Liman-Tinguiri in Washington as well as Niger's ambassadors to France, Nigeria and Togo.
Since officers seized power in the capital Niamey on July 26, the European Union and France have suspended security cooperation and aid, and Washington has suspended training with Niamey's security forces.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has imposed economic sanctions, and neighbouring Nigeria has cut electricity that feeds 70 percent of Niger's grid, leading to rolling blackouts in the capital. Rice prices have shot up 40 percent, Liman-Tinguiri added.
Some 40% of the government's budget comes from outside aid, he pointed out.
"There will be devastating consequences if we let this situation continue," said the ambassador, wearing a traditional Nigerien kaftan and cap. "We have a lot of displaced people and refugees, how will we feed them tomorrow if all our partners refuse?"
Liman-Tinguiri also worried that Russia's Wagner paramilitary group – already a security partner for the junta in neighbouring Mali after ties between the putschists and France soured – could take advantage of the situation.
A junta in Niamey, leading a country that was previously the West's key ally in a region facing threats from Islamic State and Al Qaeda-affiliated groups, could make it difficult to contain violence already spreading toward neighbouring coastal states on the Atlantic Ocean.
"With this destabilisation, there won't be any way to protect coastal African countries, countries on the West coast, and you will have Wagner and the jihadists control Africa from the coast to the Mediterranean," Liman-Tinguiri said.
"I don't wish my country to be taken by mercenaries, when we see the ravages, the crimes they've committed elsewhere" in Libya, Central African Republic and Mali, Liman-Tinguiri said.
