Explainer | What might Niger coup and new leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani mean for West Africa stability?
- Mutinous soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum and announced they had seized power
- Russia and the West have been vying for influence in the fight against extremism in the region
The 62-year-old general who led a coup in Niger took to state television on Friday to ask for support for the takeover, two days after members of the military detained democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum and set off political chaos that could set back the nation’s fight against jihadists and increase Russia’s influence in West Africa.
As General Abdourahmane Tchiani spoke, Niger state television identified him as the leader of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, the group of soldiers who said they staged the coup.
Tchiani, who goes by Omar and was a military attache at Niger’s embassy in Germany, has led the elite presidential guard unit since 2011.
He said his country needed to change course to avoid “the gradual and inevitable demise” and thus he and others had decided to intervene.
“I ask the technical and financial partners who are friends of Niger to understand the specific situation of our country in order to provide it with all the support necessary to enable it to meet the challenges,” he said.
General Tchiani was the first officer on site when a French UTA flight crashed in Niger in 1989, killing all 170 people on board, following a suitcase bomb explosion. He was decorated for having secured the crash site.