Niger Needs America’s Help

Nearly three weeks ago, Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani betrayed Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum and attempted to seize power in the West African country of 25 million. The coup leaders are now trying to starve Mr. Bazoum to death while holding him hostage. The world faces a critical choice: help Niger restore its democracy, or deal with the consequences of it becoming an autocratic failed state. The decisions made at this grave hour will affect global security for generations to come.

I urge the U.S. to support the Economic Community of West African States’ military effort to end the coup attempt while there is still time. The world has already united to condemn the coup. Ecowas, the African Union, the U.S., the United Nations, France, the European Union and even Russia have all spoken out against Mr. Tiani’s illegal power grab.

Their interest is justified. Niger’s fate matters because it is the last democratic country in the Sahel region that is unequivocally committed to fighting terrorism, a commitment made possible by support from France and the U.S. Over the past decade the U.S. has deployed 1,100 soldiers in our desert, invested $500 million in our military, and given $2.3 billion in development assistance. These resources help American military and intelligence organizations gather vital information on al Qaeda, Boko Haram and ISIS. They all operate in Niger, whose area is nearly twice that of Afghanistan.

Thanks to these partnerships, Niger has enjoyed its safest period in decades. Our improved security enabled social and economic progress in a country where women have seven children on average and the average age is 15. Under the last two democratic governments, economic growth increased due to investments in women’s rights, education, sustainable energy and agriculture.

A philosophy teacher turned union leader, President Bazoum was elected in 2021 with 55.6% of the vote, carrying out the first peaceful transition of power in Niger’s history. His vision of a pro-Western and anticorruption path to development captured the nation’s hopes; when the coup plotters imprisoned him, they attacked Niger’s future.

President Bazoum’s inhumane detention is unacceptable, yet he possesses an unbreakable spirit. He is prepared to sacrifice his life for his democratic ideals.

As diplomats and emissaries from the U.S., Nigeria and Chad discovered in the past week, the coup plotters are bullies. Their only motivation is personal enrichment. They believe that assassinating Mr. Bazoum will keep them alive, that Wagner Group mercenaries will defend their power, and that Russian propaganda is a substitute for sustainable development.

Niger will become a failed state if the coup succeeds. The U.S. will soon be forced to withdraw its forces, giving Islamist terrorists free rein to plan violent acts.

Motivated by the destabilizing effects that a successful coup would have on their nations and citizens, the free members of Ecowas (Benin, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Senegal) have committed 5,000 troops to oppose the junta. Ecowas’s bold and decisive step is welcome but will take weeks to mobilize—time that President Bazoum doesn’t have.

Our Western allies, with their complex bureaucracies, are paralyzed by indecision. The Biden administration wholeheartedly supports Niger’s government and Ecowas’s decision to intervene militarily, but it is unwilling to go further. Taking military action to support Ecowas is indeed risky. Lives will be lost, and the attempt to restore Niger’s constitutional order could fail. But the alternative is far worse.

Allowing President Bazoum to die at the hands of his captors would be a strategic error that would empower the terrorist threat to our collective security. Military inaction would signal a turn away from the same democratic values that are under threat from a declining Russia, which is trying to remain relevant by sowing seeds of chaos around the world.

Paraphrasing Lincoln at Gettysburg, the world will forget these words but will long remember the choices made in the coming hours. The stakes are clear; it’s time for America to choose.

Mr. Liman-Tinguiri is Niger’s ambassador to the U.S.