Niger
Despite three democratic elections since 2011, Niger remains challenged by poor governance and violent extremism — issues that transitional authorities used to justify a coup in July 2023. As the transitional government withdraws from Western partnerships, they have limited capacity to govern effectively, negotiate with regional and international partners, and define a credible timeline and roadmap for elections and other institutions. Since 2017, USIP has strengthened dialogue and agreements between communities, security forces and authorities to improve security and governance. USIP also trains local community leaders in the prevention of violent extremism and recruitment by terrorist groups.
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In Africa, the Need to Engage with Democracies and Coup Regimes
Three West African coup leaders — a general, a colonel and a captain — gathered last weekend to formally ally their regimes in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso. Their meeting dramatized two realities for Americans and allies who hope to see our children live in a world governed by laws rather than brute force.
Joseph Sany on the U.S. Withdrawal from Niger
The U.S. reached an agreement with Niger’s military junta to close two military bases in the country in what amounts to a “tactical setback” for counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel. But the closure also “forces the U.S. to review its military posture in the region,” says USIP’s Joseph Sany, adding “there may be other options.”
For Sahel Stability, U.S. Needs Broader, Coordinated Policy
As military coups and violent insurgencies have spread across Africa’s Sahel over the past decade, U.S. policy has professed to recognize and address their interconnections across the region, notably through the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership. Yet this effort remains insufficient to meet the scale and complexity of the violence and the underlying failures of governance.