WASHINGTON (AP) — After nearly three weeks of appealing to the United States and other allies for help restoring Niger’s president to power, friends and supporters of the democratically elected leader are making a simpler plea: Save his life. The beleaguered president and his ambassador, whom junta members have declared out of a job, talk one or more times a day. However, an activist who supports Niger's new military rulers in its communications said the reports of the president's dire state were false. Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland met with Niger's junta members in the capital this week but called them unreceptive to her demands to restore Niger's democracy. Blinken has expressed broad support for ECOWAS, whose diplomatic efforts have been spurned by the Niger junta and which has warned of military force as a last resort.

Source: Ethiopian News August 12, 2023 17:17 UTC