The United States is suspending some assistance to Niger, a country in West Africa that has been in turmoil since a coup d’état.

“We are suspending certain foreign assistance programs that have supported the government of Niger,” U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken said in a statement today, according to Reuters and AFP.

Blinken said that vital humanitarian and food assistance would continue, but called for the immediate restoration of the democratically elected Nigerian government.

Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement on March 3, “We demand the immediate release of President Bazoum and his family and the preservation of hard-won democracy.”

For the U.S. and other Western nations, Niger is a strategic keystone in the fight against Islamic extremist militants such as the Islamic State (IS) and al-Qaeda, and a major producer of uranium, a raw material for nuclear power and nuclear weapons.

In Niger, military forces led by the head of the presidential guard, Abdoulahmane Tiani, 먹튀검증토토사이트 ousted President Bazoum in a coup d’état on March 26.