عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

African Union Suspends Niger over Coup, Prepares Sanctions

The logo of the African Union (AU) is seen at the entrance of the AU headquarters on March 13, 2019, in Addis Ababa. (AFP)
The logo of the African Union (AU) is seen at the entrance of the AU headquarters on March 13, 2019, in Addis Ababa. (AFP)
TT
TT

African Union Suspends Niger over Coup, Prepares Sanctions

The logo of the African Union (AU) is seen at the entrance of the AU headquarters on March 13, 2019, in Addis Ababa. (AFP)
The logo of the African Union (AU) is seen at the entrance of the AU headquarters on March 13, 2019, in Addis Ababa. (AFP)

The African Union (AU) has suspended Niger from all its activities following the military coup there and told its members to avoid any action that might legitimize the junta.

The coup last month has caused alarm among Western allies and democratic African states who fear it could allow extremist groups active in the Sahel region to expand their reach, and give Russia a foothold to increase its influence.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has been trying to negotiate with the junta but says it is ready to send troops into Niger to restore constitutional order if diplomatic efforts fail.

In a rare sign of progress on Tuesday, ECOWAS mediator Abdulsalami Abubakar, who is a former military leader of Nigeria, said a weekend visit to Niger had been “very fruitful" and that he still had hope for a peaceful resolution.

"Nobody wants to go to war," he told reporters in Abuja after briefing Nigerian President Bola Tinubu on the mission.

"We started talking. They (the junta) have made their own points. We'll get somewhere hopefully," he said, without giving further details.

The AU Peace and Security Council said in a communique on Tuesday that it had noted ECOWAS' decision to activate a standby force and asked the AU Commission to assess the economic, social, and security implications of deploying such a force.

It also said it had asked the AU Commission to compile a list of members of the military junta and their supporters for targeted sanctions and "the application of individual punitive measures".

The resolutions in Tuesday's statement were adopted at a council meeting held on Aug. 14, it said.

ECOWAS has already imposed broad sanctions on Niger, which the AU endorsed.

The AU reiterated calls for the coup leaders to immediately release elected President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained since the coup, and return to their barracks.

The junta has resisted pressure to stand down and on Saturday proposed a three-year timeline to organize elections, a plan which ECOWAS rejected.

'Grave implications'

The ECOWAS Parliament, one of the regional bloc's institutions, is against sending in troops, said Ali Ndume, a representative from Nigeria.

"Our stand is informed by the grave implications of a military intervention in Niger. (There is) no alternative to a diplomatic solution," he told journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, following a parliamentary meeting on Niger the night before.

Regional leaders have taken a hard line on Niger, trying to show that they meant it when they said coups would no longer be tolerated in the region. Niger's coup is the seventh in West and Central Africa since 2020.

The country has strategic significance as a base for US and French troops helping fight extremist militant groups in the region, and as one of the world's biggest producers of uranium.

Algerian state radio said late on Monday that Algeria had refused a French request to fly over its airspace for a military operation in Niger. France denied making any such request. It was not clear what type of operation Algeria referred to.

The AU said it strongly rejected any external interference in the situation by any actor or country outside of Africa, including engagements by private military companies - a likely reference to Russian mercenary group Wagner, which is active in neighboring Mali.

Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has welcomed the coup and on Monday posted a video in which he appeared to be in Africa, promoting Wagner's activities there.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Mayotte Faces Environment, Biodiversity Crisis after Cyclone

This photograph shows a truck unloading a garbage in a waste disposal site in the city of Tsountsou, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
This photograph shows a truck unloading a garbage in a waste disposal site in the city of Tsountsou, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

Mayotte Faces Environment, Biodiversity Crisis after Cyclone

This photograph shows a truck unloading a garbage in a waste disposal site in the city of Tsountsou, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
This photograph shows a truck unloading a garbage in a waste disposal site in the city of Tsountsou, on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte on December 26, 2024. (AFP)

Mayotte has changed beyond recognition since a cyclone devastated the Indian Ocean territory, sparking an environment and biodiversity crisis that could last for a decade or more, scientists say.

After barreling into the archipelago at 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph), Cyclone Chido left behind scenes of desolation: Trees mowed down as far as the eye can see, sturdy tree trunks blown apart as if struck by mortars, the previous green of the foliage replaced by a sad brown.

"It's an environmental disaster," said Raima Fadul, a biologist. "There are no more trees. Those still standing have lost their tops... The cyclone flattened the vegetation."

A gigantic baobab over 300 years old collapsed onto a restaurant. Part of the mangrove is now completely bare and black. A three-meter (10-feet) earth mound looms where an acacia tree, half a century old, was uprooted by the violent storm.

One effect of the vegetation's sudden disappearance is that Mayotte's slums, formerly hidden by lush greenery, are now starkly apparent, making visible their number, and their sprawl.

- 'We never realized' -

"All we saw before were mango trees, coconut trees and a forest," said Rouchdat Mourchidi, an education counselor checking on what remains of a family plot on the island's heights. "We never realized there were metal shacks there because they were hidden in vegetation."

Trees have always played the crucial role of channeling rain and slowing down potential floods. Now that they are gone, any torrential downpour will wash soil into the lagoon below, covering the seabed in mud.

As a result, part of the lagoon's coral reef will be killed off, said Fadul, leading to the loss of some of the 300 species of fish, corals, vertebrates and mollusks present in the reef's ecosystem.

On land, wildlife is already suffering from the loss of forest cover. Small dark lemurs called makis are now being spotted increasingly in urban areas where they come in search of food, and where they will probably die.

Bats, pollinators with an important role to play in future reforestation, are also becoming rarer after losing their nesting spots in trees.

There are also grave concerns for lizards, insects and flowering plants that used to proliferate on Mayotte.

- 'In 10 years' time' -

One ray of hope is that Mayotte's tropical climate will help accelerate future tree growth, said Benoit Loussier, regional director of the National Forestry Office.

"In 10 years' time, plantations may have restored a forest cover" of eight meters (26 feet) high, he said.

But this can happen only if the population resists the obvious temptation to convert destroyed forest zones into farmland.

This illegal activity was already in evidence before the cyclone, notably due to desperately poor illegal immigrants practicing subsistence farming.

In 2020, the International Union for Conservation of Nature estimated that 6.7 percent of Mayotte's woodland had been cleared between 2011 and 2016, a deforestation proportion comparable to that seen in Argentina or Indonesia.

The risk of illicit replanting is all the more acute as crops were also destroyed by Cyclone Chido.

Another looming risk is "subsistence poaching" of turtles, warned Lamya Essemlali at Sea Shepherd, a wildlife preservation NGO, as Mayotte's poorest go hungry while food aid is still slow to arrive.

Officially Mayotte has 320,000 inhabitants -- with unregistered undocumented migrants probably adding another 100,000 -- packed into a territory of 374 square kilometers (144 square miles), resulting in a population density eight times that of mainland France.

The median income in Mayotte is 260 euros ($271) a month, according to the national statistics institute Insee, six times less than in mainland France.