The United States officially designated the military’s seizure of power in Niger this summer as a “coup d’état”, triggering an automatic suspension of American aid to one of the world’s poorest countries, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
The U.S. State Department clarified that humanitarian aid, particularly food assistance for the Nigerien people, remains unaffected.
Administration officials explained that all avenues to restore constitutional order were exhausted with the National Council for the Salvation of the People.
The restoration of democratic institutions and the release of President Mohamed Bazoum are prerequisites for aid reinstatement. On the military front, the United States, which invested half a billion dollars in training the Nigerien army, has severed cooperation. There are a thousand American soldiers stationed at the Agadez drone base.
Drone flights have resumed for counterterrorism efforts in the region, but they no longer provide intelligence to the Nigerian military.