Niger’s nationwide broadcaster identified Military Normal Abdourahamane Tiani as President of Niger’s new army authorities on Friday following a coup that deposed former President Mohamed Bazoum. The nation’s ruling council, known as the Nationwide Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland, was shaped out of Niger’s presidential guard, which carried out the coup.
In a televised message, Tiani stated that the council deposed the outdated elected authorities, calling it a “regime,” over its dealing with of Niger’s jihadist insurgency in addition to poor financial and social situations throughout the nation. Particularly, Tiani criticized the earlier authorities’s hesitation to work with bordering nations Burkina Faso and Mali to fight insurgencies in Africa’s Sahel area. Each nations not too long ago underwent army coups with Burkina Faso’s occurring in October 2022 and Mali’s in Could 2021.
The coup in Niger has been condemned by many nations and worldwide organizations, together with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had a call with Bazoum and former Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou on Friday the place he stated that the US “will proceed to work to make sure the complete restoration of constitutional order and democratic rule in Niger.”
France, together with the European Union (EU), suspended aid to Niger on Saturday. It and the EU additionally explicitly refused to acknowledge the brand new council as Niger’s authorities.
Blinken and French International Minister Catherine Colonna had a call Friday the place they mentioned the state of affairs in Niger. Each the US and France have known as for the discharge of Bazoum, who’s presently being held in Niger’s Presidential Palace.
Russian International Minister Sergei Lavrov called the coup an “unconstitutional enterprise.” Nonetheless, Wagner Group commander Yevgeni Prigozhin lauded the coup as an anti-colonial effort. Professional-coup protesters in Niger have been photographed with Russian flags, however Russian diplomat Mikhail Bogdanov denied accusations of Russian involvement.
Niger’s coup marks the sixth one in West Africa since 2020. In October 2022, troopers in Burkina Faso carried out a coup after accusing authorities of failing to quash the nation’s insurgency. That coup adopted a similar one in January 2022. A coup happened in Mali in 2021, lower than one 12 months after the previous coup in 2020. The army in Guinea additionally carried out a coup there in 2021, citing authorities mismanagement of inside affairs.
