Niger

I'm on a bit of a news analysis kick lately. I'm not sure why.

There has recently been a coup in Niger. Another coup, that is, as the guy who was deposed in the most recent coup staged a coup of his own to get into power in the first place. coup coup coup coup. But no doves in this coup, it was staged by the military.

The thing is, I think this was a good coup. It was staged because the President (Tandja) refused to give up power, ignored the constitution, and attempted to disband parliament. So the military decided to try to reimpose democracy. They took over, surrounded the house of the general who opposed the coup, and installed one of Tandja's ministers until a new government could be elected. I think the choice of someone who was in the government to run it is pretty important - it wasn't a rebel or an opposition leader, but a politician with experience and who apparently wants democracy.

But the biggest issue is that standing US policy requires us to cut off aid to a government in coup-military-dictatorship form. Not just political or macroeconomic aid, but basic health aid and infrastructure. Like people are no longer being fed. This is a dumb US policy and should be replaced with something else more contingent on situation, and should generally continue to fight infectious diseases (because stopping treatment and prevention of malaria is hardly going to convince the coup-stagers to give up power).

Save lives. Not money.