Antony blinken, has voiced his concern that nigersjunta might turn to the Russian Mercenary Group wagnerfor help. The group is active in neighbouring countries and its leader has welcomed the takeover. The coup leaders are currently Standing Firm against calls to restore democratic rule. Heres what mr blinken had to say about wagner. For sure, we have concerns when we see Something Like the wagner group possibly manifesting itself in different parts of the sahel. And here is why we are concerned. Because every single place that this group, wagner group has gone, death, destruction and exploitation have followed. Insecurity has gone up, not down. It has not been a response to the needs of the countries in question for greater security. I think what happened and what continues to happen in niger was not instigated by russia or by wagner but to the extent that they try to take advantage of it and we see a repeat of what has happened in other countries where theyve brought nothing but bad
trying to help. what speculation is that you are seeing is that the us are increasingly trying to assert itself, may be more prominent in terms of what happens moving forward in niger and we are monitoring that. having antony blinken speak with us was definitely something to take note of. there is a concern in niger that america could remove some of its military support in niger and also a considerable amount of aid they give the country. we have already heard that some of the aid has been withheld, not only america, but western countries, and this fund is up to 40% of the budget of the country. yes, you did that gathering at the stadium in niamey on sunday where 30,000 people gathered, they were not referring to the us specifically but chanting anti france slogans and waving russian flags. some analysts say they love one and hate the other, in the deep sense of it, it is a question of looking at the historical legacy of certain