The Washington Post on Thursday evening published an op-ed purportedly written by the ousted Nigerien president Mohamed Bazoum, in which he asks for US help to defeat the military junta that seized power last week.
“I write this as a hostage. Niger is under attack from a military junta that is trying to overthrow our democracy,” Bazoum said. Last Wednesday’s coup “has no justification whatsoever” and is a “cynical effort to undermine the remarkable progress Niger has made under democracy,” he insisted.
“I call on the US government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order. Fighting for our shared values, including democratic pluralism and respect for the rule of law, is the only way to make sustainable progress against poverty and terrorism,” the ousted leader wrote.
As a key argument, Bazoum brought up that earlier this year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Niger “a model of resilience, a model of democracy, a model of cooperation.”