Putin urges a "peaceful solution" and Mali and Russia discuss Niger

The Kremlin said the Malian leader took the initiative to contact President Putin about the situation in Niger, which remains unresolved.

Mali’s military commander Asimi Guetta spoke on the phone to Russian President Vladimir Putin about the situation in Niger, where a July 26 coup deposed democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum.

On the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Guetta said that Putin “stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution of the situation for a more stable Sahel region.”

The Kremlin said in a statement that the contact started from Mali.

“The parties focused in particular on the current situation in the Sahara-Sahel region and stressed in particular the importance of settling the situation in the Republic of Niger only through peaceful political and diplomatic means,” the statement said.

Niger is of strategic importance to the United States, China, Europe and Russia because of its uranium and oil resources and its role as a hub for foreign forces fighting armed groups in the region.

This call is likely to anger Western governments, which fear growing Russian influence in the Sahel region.

Western powers and democratic African governments called on the coup leaders to return the ousted president Bazoum, whom they had arrested since July 26, but the coup leaders rejected and rejected attempts to negotiate.

West African army chiefs are due to meet Thursday and Friday in Ghana to prepare for a possible military intervention, and the main regional group, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), has threatened to launch it if diplomacy fails.

Any military intervention could further destabilize the impoverished Sahel region, where conflicts waged by groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) have displaced millions over the past decade and fueled a hunger crisis.

Russian influence there has grown while the West has waned since a series of coups in the past three years. Military leaders in Mali and Burkina Faso have expelled forces from France, the former colonial power, and have strengthened ties with Moscow.

In Mali, the military government has also brought in mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, who have been accused of executing civilians and committing other gross human rights abuses.

Under Bazoum’s rule, Niger remained a Western ally. The United States, France, Germany and Italy have troops stationed there under agreements with the now deposed civilian government.

Putin had previously called for the return of constitutional order in Niger, while Wagner President Yevgeny Prigozhin welcomed the military’s takeover and offered his services.

Support for Russia appeared to be growing in Niger since the coup, with its supporters waving Russian flags at rallies and calling on France to disengage.

The coup leaders in Niger canceled a host of military agreements with France, though Paris shrugged this off by saying it did not recognize them as legitimate authorities.