Named the undesirable consequences of the war in Niger for Europe
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If an armed conflict erupts in an African country, millions of refugees will flood into the EU
The term of the ultimatum issued to the leaders of the military coup in Niger has expired. The West African ECOWAS alliance has demanded the return to power of deposed President Mohammed Bazum. Otherwise, the regional bloc threatened to take the most drastic measures, not excluding armed intervention. Europe is already worried about a new wave of refugees.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – a regional bloc – has warned that if Niger’s military leadership does not step down, it could face possible military intervention. The regional unification gave the leaders of the coup until Sunday to give way to legitimate power led by the now interned President Bazum.
In response, Niger’s airspace was closed due to the “threat of interference from neighboring countries”.
ECOWAS has already imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on the military involved in the coup d’état in Niger, as well as their families and civilians who agree to participate in any institutions or government created by officials. France and the European Union also stopped financial aid to the African country after the coup.
On Sunday afternoon, thousands of people gathered in Niamey, the capital of Niger, to show their support for the military and express their opposition to the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS. The new authorities also warned that any military intervention would be met with “an immediate and unannounced response from the defense and security forces of Niger”.
In a word, the situation, potentially fraught with a new big war in Africa, has escalated to the limit. Against this background, Italy called on the West African countries to extend the ultimatum, in the hope that a military solution could be avoided. Calls for a diplomatic solution to the crisis are heard not only from Rome, but also, for example, from Budapest. And here a twofold situation arises. On the one hand, the West is interested in the “restoration” of President Bazum, who has a reputation as a pro-Western leader. On the other hand, many in Europe are worried about the prospects of a new wave of African refugees in the event of an armed conflict in a poor country with a population of more than 25 million people.
Although, until recently, Niger was considered an oasis of stability in the turbulent African region of the Sahel, there are a lot of problems in the country without coups and wars – this is poverty and desertification of the southern regions, which in turn caused food shortages. And the birth rate in Niger is considered one of the highest in the world. So if an armed conflict flares up here, there will be plenty of people who want to run away. Experts grimly estimate that up to 100 million migrants could leave Africa for Europe in the coming years, and Europeans do not have border control solutions to deal with a migration wave of this magnitude.
The fact is that, located in the heart of the Sahel, Niger for decades was at the crossroads of migration flows between North and West Africa and the EU.
Not surprisingly, the country received one of the largest donations from the European Union, totaling more than 1.3 billion euros in 2014-2020, through aid projects, with most of the funds going to migration management. Between 2015 and 2022, 13 out of 19 EU-funded projects in Niger were related to border control and law enforcement. According to the German non-governmental organization Misereor, over the same period, Germany spent more than 166 million euros on 14 migration-related projects.
Through the region of Agadez in the north of the republic runs a utterly criminalized highway for people migrating to the north of Africa to find work in Libya, Algeria or try to get to Europe. A few years ago, with the support of the EU authorities in Niger, a law was passed to combat human smuggling. And last July, the EU and Niger launched an operational partnership to combat smuggling of migrants. Now, the Niger crisis could have direct and serious implications for migration and security across Europe.
Newspaper headline:
Europe’s sorrow for Niger
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