The rhetoric that the U.S. supports democratic governments is pure fiction. From Ted Galen Carpenter at antiwar.com:
The military takeover in Niger is the latest example of U.S.-trained officers overthrowing a democratic government. Brig. Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou, the chief of Niger’s Special Operations Forces and one of the leaders of the coup, received training at both Fort Benning, Georgia, and the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. The events in Niger are not an isolated incident. Analysts at the Intercept confirm that U.S.-trained officers have taken part in 11 coups just in West Africa since 2008.
Moreover, the Nigerian military was a prominent U.S. client overall. Since 2012, Washington has spent more than $500 million in Niger – one of the largest U.S, security assistance programs in Africa. The New York Times notes that “Until this past week, Niger was the cornerstone of the Pentagon’s regional strategy. At least 1,100 American troops are stationed in the country, where the U.S. military built multiple drone bases” to attack radical Islamist factions.
For decades, U.S. leaders have contended that Washington’s training of and close ties with militaries in foreign countries have helped strengthen support for civilian rule and democratic values in those client states. In 2022, Maj. Gen. Andrew M. Rohling, the commander of U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa, insisted that the Pentagon’s objective always has been to “showcase a way, the American way, that we train and build leaders not only in their tactical tasks, but in the ethos of the United States Army.”
The natural resources of Niger include uranium, coal, gold, iron ore, tin, phosphates, petroleum, molybdenum, salt, and gypsum. Niger has some of the largest uranium reserves in the world. It also has a good amount of oil reserves.
(from Criminals In Action, Factbook)