Niger is one of the poorest countries in the world, receiving close to $2 billion a year in official development assistance, according to the World Bank.
It is also a key security partner of Western countries such as France, the former colonial power, and the United States, which both use it as a base for their efforts to contain an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa’s Sahel region.
Previously seen the most stable country among several unstable neighbours, Niger is the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium.
Niger’s foreign allies so far have refused to recognize the new military government led by General Abdourahamane Tiani, previously head of the presidential guard, who officers declared head of state on Friday.
Bazoum has not been heard from since early Thursday when he was confined within the presidential palace, although the European Union, France and others say they still recognize him as the legitimate president.
“In addition to the immediate cessation of budget support, all cooperation actions in the domain of security are suspended indefinitely with immediate effect,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement.
I do wish you’d have a conversation with me and not with whatever you’ve decided to be angry about.
The scale of France’s uranium usage vs Australia and Canada’s production is a fair refutation to what I said. It’s also a refutation to Niger and Russia being the only markets to buy from as was said in the comment I originally brought up Canada and Australia to respond to, and they produce more than Niger and Russia. As you’ve brought up, Central Asia is the part making the difference here, and that requires looking in to who controls the mines in those countries. It looks like France is still buying uranium from Russian-controlled sources in Kazakhstan particularly.
None of what I said requires me to think that nuclear power is the magic bullet to solve all problems or that Canada and Australia are the only uranium producers in the world, and nor did I ever intend to imply either of those things. You just stuck them in between the lines of my comments somewhere.