Fanatics and putschists are creating failed states in west Africa

MOHAMED BAZOUM, Niger’s president, was under no illusions. He understood how coups in two of his neighbouring countries, Burkina Faso and Mali, had undermined their fight against the jihadists running rampant across much of the Sahel. Military rule weakens the army, deprives it of international military assistance and saps the state’s ability to deal with jihadist violence, he told The Economist in May. “The whole bet for us is...to promote [good] governance that has the effect of protecting us against a coup,” he said. On July 26th he was ousted by the head of his presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani.

The toppling of Mr Bazoum, who assumed office in 2021 in Niger’s first ever democratic transfer of power, has triggered an unprecedented crisis. The immediate worry is that it may ignite a regional war. Even if that danger is averted in the next few days, the putsch will almost certainly deal a crushing blow to efforts to fight the world’s most dangerous jihadist insurgency, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives in the three core countries in the Sahel: Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.