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1 1 (December 28, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govenvq0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congr s ionaI Res ar h SerVic inkrn ingf Lh leIativ dbat sico1914 Updated December 28, 2023 Niger Military officers seized power in Niger in July 2023, part of a wave of coups in Africa since 2020. The junta, led by former Presidential Guard commander General Abdourahamane Tchiani, has detained elected president Mohamed Bazoum and declined, to date, to issue a clear roadmap for returning power to civilians. Leaders in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have imposed economic sanctions and threatened (though not carried out) a military intervention to reverse the coup. The Biden Administration has condemned the coup and imposed restrictions on U.S. aid and security cooperation. The military takeover in Niger deepens the challenges facing U.S. policymakers in the Sahel, amid growing insurgencies, political instability, and Russian engagement in the region. Officials had previously characterized Niger as an emerging democracy and important U.S. security and development partner. Niger hosts the second-largest U.S. military presence in Africa after Djibouti, with about 1,000 U.S. soldiers as of June 2023, mostly located at facilities in the capital, Niamey, and the northern city of Agadez. U.S. forces resumed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations in September after a temporary pause following the coup. About 650 U.S. soldiers were in Niger as of December 2023, per a public White House war powers report. While permitting U.S. military personnel to remain, the junta has expelled French troops-ending U.S.-backed counterterrorism operations-and pursued closer ties to Russia. In late 2023, the junta halted European Union (EU) security and migration cooperation initiatives. These moves have leveraged (and stoked) local resentment of France, the former colonial power and a key player in Niger's economically vital uranium mining sector. Niger's military authorities have established an alliance with fellow populist juntas in Mali and Burkina Faso, which have likewise expelled French troops and drawn closer to Russia. Context Landlocked and arid, Niger is one of the world's poorest countries. Coups and armed rebellions have marked its history. The last coup was in 2010; authorities reported coup attempts in 2021 and 2022. President Bazoum's inauguration in 2021 marked Niger's first-ever transition between two elected presidents. Insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS) are active in border regions and in neighboring countries. Conflicts involving these groups have displaced hundreds of thousands of Nigeriens and caused military and civilian casualties. The IS Sahel affiliate claimed a 2017 deadly ambush of U.S. soldiers in Niger, and several U.S. citizens have been kidnapped in Niger and held by terrorist groups. (All have since been freed.) Socioeconomic conditions deteriorated in the lead-up to the 2023 coup, due to factors such as security threats, the global effects of the Russia-Ukraine war, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Figure I. Niger at a Glance Source: CRS graphic. Data from CIA World Factbook, IMF. Niger assumed increasing importance as an anchor of Western security cooperation in the Sahel over the past decade, exhibiting relative stability as other governments fell to military coups, and agreeing to host sizable U.S. and European trop contingents. President Bazoum also was one of the few regional leaders to openly criticize Russia's Wagner Group, which began operating in Mali in 2021. In 2022, France increased its troop presence in Niger after being forced to withdraw its military from Mali. Deposed President Bazoum, a former cabinet minister, was elected in 2021, succeeding close ally Mahamadou Issoufou in what many observers perceived as a managed transition. Although observers generally deemed the elections credible, a prominent opposition figure was barred from running due to a criminal conviction that some viewed as biased, and the losing candidate rejected the results as fraudulent. Protests and rioting erupted after results were released, and authorities claimed to foil a coup attempt. Freedom House rated Niger as Partly Free under Bazoum, noting multiparty competition along with state persecution and co-option of opposition leaders. The State Department reported concerns about apparent harassment of civil society groups and journalists, and authorities restricted some civil liberties, including protests. Prelude to the coup. The growing foreign troop presence, President Bazoum's close ties to France, and Niger's cooperation with the EU to counter migrant flows (from which some in Niger derive income) prompted local backlash, including protests and rioting in 2021 and 2022. Although security trends were relatively positive in 2023, some of Bazoum's policies, including a reintegration

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