Top U.S. Official Held ‘Difficult’ Talks With Niger’s Coup Leaders in Bid for Diplomacy

A top State Department official met with Niger’s junta leaders, urging them to back down from an attempted coup in the country and pushing for the release of the detained president.

Victoria Nuland, the acting deputy secretary of State, said in a call with reporters late Monday night that she held “extremely frank” and “difficult” talks with the nation’s self-proclaimed chief of defense, Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, and three colonels supporting him.

The U.S., France and regional leaders in Africa are pushing for Niger’s coup leaders to abandon their overthrow of the democratic government or risk a military confrontation threatened by neighbors in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and led by Nigeria.

Read the source article at The Hill