By Ayo Yusuf
As the 78 United Nations General Assembly comes to an end, Niger coup leaders Friday accused the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres, of obstructing their participation in the event which took place in New York, US.
In a news release read on public television, the Nigerien military junta charged that the Secretary General’s refusal to let them speak at the General Assembly is “likely to undermine any effort to end the crisis in our country.”
The military regime had come under severe criticism during the General Assembly with Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu and other world leaders, including global bodies like the UN, calling the coup unacceptable.
Rebel elite soldiers overthrew president Mohamed Bazoum of Niger on July 26 and have since detained him at home with his family.
Negotiations to restore civilian rule have yet to bear fruit, with the junta demanding a three-year transition and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) calling for the immediate return of the democratically elected Bazoum.
ECOWAS leaders have threatened to use force to dislodge the Coupists if diplomatic efforts proved inadequate.
However, according to the military regime in Niger, the head of the UN “went astray in the exercise of his mission by obstructing Niger’s full participation in the 78th session of the UN General Assembly.”
The junta criticised what it called “the perfidious actions” of the UN leader, adding that they were “likely to undermine any effort to end the crisis in our country.”
The release said Niger “forcefully rejects and denounces this clear interference by Mr. Guterres in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.”
The Niger military regime had chosen Bakary Yaou Sangare, who before the coup was Niger’s ambassador to the UN and is now its foreign minister, as its representative for the General Assembly.
However, diplomatic sources have explained why the representative of the junta was not allowed to make his pitch at the assembly.
Sources said because there was also an application by the overthrown government of President Bazoum to represent Niger, the matter had to be decided by another committee.
“In case of competing credentials from a Member State the secretary-general defers the matter to the Credentials Committee of the General Assembly who will deliberate on the matter,” Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Ms. Dujarric who said, “The secretary-general does not decide,” added that since the committee in charge will not meet until later, no representative from Niger was added to the speakers’ list.
One of the world’s poorest nations, Niger is the fourth country in West Africa to suffer a coup since 2020, following Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali.
President Bazoum’s removal heightened international worries over the Sahel region, which faces growing jihadist insurgencies linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
Regional sanctions since the coup mean food and medicines are scarce in landlocked Niger, prices are skyrocketing and there are blackouts after Nigeria cut electricity supplies.
Senegal’s President Macky Sall said on Thursday a diplomatic solution in Niger was “still possible”.
In an interview with some media outlets, President Sall said “I hope that reason will ultimately prevail… that it is still possible to move forward reasonably to a solution.”
He urged Niger’s coup leaders “to not push (us) to the final decision which would be a military intervention”.
The military leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger signed a mutual defence pact this month, saying they aimed to “establish an architecture of collective defence and mutual assistance for the benefit of our populations”.
Nigerian President Tinubu said on Tuesday that he was seeking to re-establish constitutional order to address political and economic problems in neighboring Niger following the July coup and said ECOWAS welcomed any support for the process.
President Tinubu, who is the current chairman of ECOWAS, said the regional body is ready to deploy troops to restore constitutional order if diplomatic efforts fail.
Addressing the General Assembly in New York, President Tinubu condemned military coups, which have swept through West Africa in the past few years and are sometimes even cheered by citizens.
“The wave of coups crossing parts of Africa does not demonstrate favor towards coups. It is a demand for solutions to perennial problems,” he said.
“Regarding Niger, we are negotiating with the military leaders. As chairman of ECOWAS, I seek to help re-establish democratic governance in a manner that addresses the political and economic challenges confronting that nation, including the violent extremists who seek to foment instability in our region,” he added.
