In Niger, Biden should call a coup a coup

Since mutinous soldiers in Niger ousted the president in July, the United States has suspended security cooperation with the country’s military in the fight against Islamic militants. The State Department has ordered a partial evacuation of nonessential personnel and dependents from the U.S. Embassy. And President Joe Biden has called for the immediate release of deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been held under house arrest with his family in the presidential palace.

The one thing the Biden administration has not done is call this illegal armed overthrow of a democratically elected president what it is: a military coup. That needs to change, if the United States is to maintain its credibility on the continent.

Niger’s neighbors in the Economic Community of West African States, the European Union and France have all condemned the takeover as a coup. So far, the United States has been holding back, with administration officials hoping diplomacy might still persuade the soldiers to return to their barracks and restore Bazoum to power.

But a diplomatic solution appears increasingly out of reach. Nearly a month after Bazoum was ousted and replaced by the head of his presidential guard, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, the military takeover is apparently becoming more entrenched.

A one-week ultimatum by the ECOWAS to restore Bazoum to power or risk an African military intervention came and went. There is no longer any serious talk of a military solution — perhaps because the coup leaders reportedly threatened to kill Bazoum in the case of any attack. Many Nigerien civilians, openly supportive of this illegal power-grab, have pledged to take up arms against any outside interference. Niger’s military-run neighbors have endorsed the new junta in Niamey. Various diplomatic entreaties to Niger’s ruling generals have been repeatedly rebuffed.

Now, Niger’s new rulers are talking about putting Bazoum on trial for “high treason.” If convicted, he could face the death penalty. The deposed president and his family have also now apparently been cut off from communication with the outside world, and there are reports they may be running low on food and water. Human rights groups have also said they have not had access to other officials of Bazoum’s government detained after the coup.

The administration’s reticence is understandable. Under U.S. law, designating the overthrow a coup would require the U.S. to end its foreign aid and military assistance and withdraw American troops, currently confined to their bases. Niger is considered a vital linchpin in the counterterrorism fight against Islamist militants linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in Africa’s troubled Sahel region.

Since President Barack Obama sent the first 100 troops to Niger in February 2013, to share intelligence with Nigerien and French forces battling jihadists in neighboring Mali, the U.S. mission has expanded to 1,100 troops training elements of Niger’s army and establishing drone bases. Niger is also a test case of the United States’ post-Afghanistan counterterrorism strategy of placing a limited number of troops in hot spots around the world to combat nascent threats.

Abandoning Niger could exacerbate instability across the Sahel region by emboldening the jihadists, triggering more displacement and opening the door for Russia’s brutal Wagner Group mercenaries to move into the vacuum.