President of Niger: My country is under attack and I’ve been taken hostage
The world must help us stop the military seizure of power in the African nation.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Any attempt to overthrow a lawful government must be opposed, and we appreciate the strong and unequivocal condemnations of this cynical effort to undermine the remarkable progress Niger has made under democracy.
Notably, Niger’s security situation is significantly better than that of our neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, whose governments, both installed by military takeovers, support the illegal coup.
Rather than addressing security concerns by strengthening their own capacity, they employ criminal Russian mercenaries such as the Wagner Group at the expense of their people’s rights and dignity.
Workers did not go on strike in any major sector, and my administration signed landmark agreements with unions to create a safer and more stable working environment across the nation.
Recognizing the threat that Niger’s potential fall poses to the region, our neighbors in ECOWAS have announced unprecedented sanctions, including a ban on exports and imports of oil, and a suspension of cross-border financial transactions.
In Africa’s troubled Sahel region, Niger stands as the last bastion of respect for human rights amid the authoritarian movements that have overtaken some of our neighbors.
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Any attempt to overthrow a lawful government must be opposed
A totally ridiculous statement right out of the gate. Either actions against lawful governments are sometimes justified (how many Americans would say they would have opposed rebelling against the lawful British rule of the colonies?), or you redefine "lawful" to support whatever revolutions you want, making this statement empty.
Wasn't this guy basically a French puppet?
op-ed's arent news. it's right there at the top - "opinion"
It's the ousted leader of a country making a statement about his ousting. We don't treat state leaders' statements as "mere opinion" when they're televized, this isn't different. It's just not being contextualized by a third party so it doesn't go in the News section.
I could have posted the BBC article, but all it does is quote the op-ed and add a little bit of context. Since the release of the op-ed itself is newsworthy I thought it would be better to link it directly.
It was written by the President himself, this isn't some fluff opinion piece.