Since the 1990s the West African regional body (15-nation bloc) ECOWAS has been unsuccessful in protecting democracies against the threat of coups. Its latest victim is Niger. Both the United States and France have sent forces and humanitarian aid to Niger, a former French colony. This latest coup ousted [...]

President Mohamed Bazoum, elected in 2021 in Nigeria’s first peaceful transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960, was abducted in a possible coup. President Bazoum has the backing of several political parties, and he is a key ally to the West’s effort to battle jihadists linked [...]