A year has passed since Niger’s dramatic coup. Life has become more dangerous and desperate

BY CHINEDU ASADU AND BABA AHMED

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — When a group of military officers appeared on state television in Niger one year ago to announce a dramatic coup, they said they deposed the West African nation’s elected government for two key reasons: its security and economic crises.

But those challenges have persisted, even worsened. The country’s 26 million people — among the world’s youngest and poorest — are struggling after the junta severed ties with key international partners, who have imposed sanctions and suspended security and development support affecting close to half of Niger’s budget.

The coup was the latest and perhaps most significant of the recent military takeovers in Africa’s Sahel, the vast, arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert that has become a global hot spot for extremist violence. Niger had been the West’s last reliable partner in the region in battling jihadists linked to al-Qaida