On July 26, a splinter faction of the Niger military overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum, confining him to the presidential palace. While telecommunications infrastructure was still intact, a tweet from the premier’s office claimed Bazoum and family were in good health but were prepared to call upon the National Guard to attack if the rebelling soldiers did not back down.

Within forty-eight hours, Colonel Amadou Abdramane, surrounded by nine other officers, took control of national airwaves, declaring he had “put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance.” The African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemned the effort to unseat Bazoum, who was elected president two years ago in the nation’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960.

European leaders, along with United Nations chief António Guterres, condemned “any effort to seize power by force” and urged respect for Niger’s constitution, while the United States expressed deep concern and called for Bazoum to be released from captivity. Even Ethiopia’s government, which human rights organizations accused of war crimes throughout the Tigray War, said putschists were “acting in total betrayal of their republican duty.” How regional powers would respond to this crisis was, according to Nigeria’s recently elected president, Bola Tinubu, a “litmus test for West Africa’s democracy.”