Niger coup: Nigerien Army general warns against foreign intervention
BY BINTU JIDDA KANEMPRESS
29TH JULY, 2023
The Nigerien soldiers involved in the military coup have named an army general as the new leader, who also warned against any foreign military intervention.
Head of the Presidential Guard since 2011, General Abdourahamane Tchiani,
said on state television that he was the “president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the homeland”.
The general, Tchiani
presented the coup as a response to “the degradation of the security situation” linked to jihadist bloodshed.
Tchiani warned of “the consequences of any intervention from any foreign military intervention”.
Certain dignitaries .. are in thinking of confrontation” which “will end in nothing but the massacre of the Nigerien population and chaos,” Tchiani claimed.
The Guard’s chiefs who staged the coup on Thursday had won broad army support.
Armed forces chief General Abdou Sidikou Issa backed the putschists, saying it was “in order to avoid a deadly confrontation”.
President Mohamed Bazoum had been detained, for the fourth th day, former colonial master France had demanded the restoration of the democratically elected government saying it “does not recognise” the putschists, and calling Bazoum “sole president”.
The coup on Wednesday had drawn mounting international concern, with Kenyan President William Ruto describing the army takeover “a serious setback “ for Africa.
“The aspirations of the people of Niger for constitutional democracy were subverted by an unconstitutional change of government,” President Ruto said in a video message.
The European Union had threatened to cut aid to Niamey after it described as a “serious attack on stability and democracy” in Niger.
President Bazoum and his family have been confined since Wednesday morning to their residence at the presidential palace located within the Guard’s military camp.
He is said to be in good health and has been able to talk by telephone to other heads of state.
