WASHINGTON (CN) — As political instability threatens upheaval in sub-Saharan Africa, the Biden administration has sent a top diplomat to show its support for regional allies.
Molly Phee, assistant secretary of state for African affairs, left for the continent on Friday for a trip with stops in Nigeria, Chad and Ghana through Tuesday.
The move comes as the U.S. and Western powers hope their African allies can restore civilian rule in Niger, end the bloodshed in Sudan and support Chad’s transition away from military control.
In Niger, the military and presidential guard on July 26 overthrew the democratically elected government of President Mohamed Bazoum. The president and his wife and son have been kept under house arrest in the capital of Niamey, with human rights organizations saying they are being starved.
General Abdourahamane Tchiani declared himself head of state, citing an ongoing Islamic insurgency and security concerns as motivations for the coup. The Economic Community of West African States has threatened military action to restore civilian rule, but has not sent troops into the country.
It was the sixth military coup in western Africa since 2020, a troubling trend for the Sahel, which is the large transition zone between the Sahara desert in the north and the savannahs of the south.
“Increasingly, you’re now finding this is becoming the norm across the Sahel,” Ebenezer Obadare, a senior fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, said in an interview. “If the trend continues, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the continent.”
Phee will “engage with regional heads of state” to convey U.S. support for the ECOWAS as it tries to tackle the situation, the State Department said.
“In all her conversations, she will raise the shared goals of preserving Niger’s hard-earned democracy and achieving the immediate release of President Bazoum, his family, and those members of his government unjustly detained,” officials said in a statement.
Meanwhile, in her visit to Chad, Phee will oversee preparations for a transition to full democracy while reviewing developments in neighboring Sudan.
Sudan has been in a state of worsening civil war since fighting broke out on April 15 between the Sudanese Army and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary, derailing a Western-brokered transition to democracy after decades of military and authoritarian rule.
More than 3.4 million people have been displaced within Sudan and another one million have fled the country, the United Nations estimates, threatening stability in the region.
Like Niger, Chad has been a key U.S. ally in fighting Islamic militants fighting a widespread insurgency in the Sahel. But as refugees from Sudan’s conflict have poured into the country of about 18 million people, it has placed increased strain on an already precarious political situation. The country is also dealing with extremist and armed groups in the Sahel, while suffering spillover from instability in Libya, which hasn’t fully recovered from the U.S.-backed overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Chad’s current political state traces back to 1990, when the Libyan-backed Patriotic Salvation Movement seized power, installing General Idriss Deby as president. Despite the military takeover, the government has remained in sporadic conflict with opposition groups, rebels and extremists.
Deby was killed fighting those groups in 2021, leading the Transitional Military Council to take power and his son, Mahamat Idriss Deby, to be installed as president.
The council announced a ceasefire with more than 30 rebel groups, but the most powerful, the Libya-based Front for Change and Concord, did not agree to stop fighting. Some of the rebel groups also are reportedly supporting the Rapid Support Forces in neighboring Sudan.
The council has proclaimed its support for multiparty democracy, but despite declaring elections for October 2024, some observers have warned that Deby appears to be consolidating his power and violently cracking down on civilian protests.
In July the United States Institute of Peace warned that recent developments could threaten true reconciliation between the ruling party and rebel groups, further destabilizing the region.
“[T]hings are progressing at the government’s pace, and this is the moment for Chad's partners to call on the government to respect its commitments and initiate a transparent and inclusive process to rebuild the Chadian nation,” Gondeu Ladiba, a professor at the University of N’Djamena, wrote for the organization.
“Specifically, it is crucial for Chad's partners to continue exerting pressure on the transitional president, urging him to have the courage to widen civic space and trust in the Chadian people to pave the way for genuine peace.”
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