On Tuesday, Oct. 10, over two months since the Nigerien military originally took power on July 28, the U.S. declared the coup in Niger a coup. The admission to reality came only after Blinken made one, last-ditch effort to salvage the situation (by calling deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, as opposed to junta leaders) on Monday, Oct. 9. Also Monday, the final contingent of some 100 French troops began exiting the country, with three planeloads having departed in the following days. On Oct. 11, Niger ordered the UN “coordinator” out of the country “within 72 hours.” Such has been the rapidity of the collapse of the Ozimandian forces from the Western Sahel region.
Put bluntly, Niger was the “empire’s last stand” in northern Africa, the place where imperial forces had coalesced after being thrown out of Mali and Burkina Faso. To lose Niger would be the equivalent of admitting a Russian victory in Ukraine. But while the spotlight has been on the French, in Niger the largest force is American—one which the west refused to admit—or to abandon. The extremely belated admission by the U.S. has major repercussions, such as mandating the suspension of over a half-million dollars in humanitarian aid and an end to military training.