BERLIN (Reuters) – German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has held talks with African Union Chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other stakeholders about the coup in Niger, and Germany is now backing EU sanctions against the military junta, her ministry said on Thursday.
In comments posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the foreign ministry said Baerbock had held the talks with “the goal of re-establishing constitutional order” in Niger.
During a visit to Abuja, German development minister Svenja Schulze also met with representatives of the West African bloc ECOWAS, the ministry said.
“After the suspension of development cooperation and security cooperation, we in the EU now want to introduce sanctions against the putschists,” it added.
Niger military officers deposed President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 and have defied calls from the United Nations, ECOWAS and Western powers to reinstate him, prompting West African heads of state to order the standby force to be assembled.
(Writing by Friederike Heine; Editing by Miranda Murray)
