Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s new president, asks for help

SINCE A WAVE of anti-French protests broke out last year across parts of the Sahel, few leaders in the region have wanted to appear to be too chummy with the former colonial power, or for that matter any of the Western countries which have sent troops to help fight jihadists. Mohamed Bazoum, who was sworn in as president of Niger in April in its first democratic transfer of power, is less standoffish. He not only welcomes the French military presence in his country, but thinks other Western powers should be doing far more to help roll back the insurgent groups that have overrun parts of Mali and are causing havoc in Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria.