One of the United States' staunchest allies in the Sahel region is one of the generals who led the coup in Niger, according to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Wednesday.

This is Brigadier General Moussa Salaou Barmou, whom the US “has courted for thirty years,” says the newspaper, inviting him to the prestigious National Defense University in Washington, and who could currently play a key role in eventual negotiations. so that the coup leaders release the deposed president and leave power.

However, the first signs are not being easy: the US Deputy Secretary of State, Victoria Nuland, met on Monday with Barmou in conversations that she described as “extremely frank and at very difficult times”, without obtaining any concessions on his part. , not even being able to visit the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum.

Barmou himself, questioned by the WSJ days ago about the risk of losing military assistance from the United States -in the form of joint exercises, provision of drones and advice in general-, responded emphatically: “If that is the price to pay for our sovereignty, so be it,” he said.

The United States has 1,100 soldiers in Nigerian territory, sharing barracks precisely with the elite troops under the direct command, until a few days ago, of Barmou; In addition, it has invested some 500 million dollars in aid to the Niger Defense Forces, including a drone base in the city of Agadez.

For years, Barmou has been vital in the US strategy in the Sahel, since it allowed it to turn Niger into the stronghold of the fight against jihadism in the entire region, and now this “status” is in danger, while it looms the threat that Russia, through the Wagner group, will fill the vacuum left by the withdrawal of French troops and an eventual withdrawal of the United States as well.

The Americans have always considered him an ally -the newspaper recounts his numerous invitations to share dinners or celebrations with North American military commanders-. However, this is a time when Nigeriens, as is happening throughout the Sahel, are turning away from the French, whom they accuse of acting “freelance” in the region without coordinating with their governments.

The relatively moderate tone with which US diplomacy has been referring to the coup plotters in Niger seems to indicate that Washington does not want, for the moment, to break all the bridges with them and that it continues to trust in the person of Barmou so that all its counterterrorism strategy in the Sahel.