US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken held a telephone conversation with Niger’s President Mohamed Bazum and called on the rebels to release him and his family.
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“Speaked to President Bazum of Niger to express our continued efforts to find a peaceful solution to the current constitutional crisis. The United States reiterates our call for the immediate release of him and his family,” the politician said on X (formerly Twitter).
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Earlier, during an interview with radio station RFI, Blinken avoided answering a question about a possible withdrawal of the US military from Niger.
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According to John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council, the United States has 1,000 troops in Niger and does not plan to use them in the evacuation of foreigners.
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At the end of July, the Niger military announced on national television that Bazum had been removed from power. The commander of the presidential guard, General Abdurakhman Tchiani, appeared on state TV as the head of the “National Council for the Defense of the Fatherland” formed by the coup participants. The leaders of most Western countries and the regional organization ECOWAS condemned the coup. In early August, the participants in the emergency meeting of the Chiefs of General Staff of the Armed Forces of the ECOWAS countries held in Abuja adopted a plan in case of military intervention in Niger.
