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General Abdourahmane Tchiani appeared on national television and declared himself the president of Niger on Friday, a day after a group of soldiers claiming to be the “National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland” said they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum and suspended government operations.
Tchiani is the leader of Niger’s presidential guard. Prior to his broadcast on Friday, unconfirmed reports claimed that Tchiani was responsible for abducting Bazoum and placing him on house arrest to allow the military to take over the country.
Niger is a turbulent nation with a prolific recent history of coups d’etat in Saharan Africa. Bazoum, the country’s democratically elected leader since 2021, reportedly survived two coup attempts before this week. Neighbors Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Mali have all experienced similar military coups in the past two years.
His foreign policy brought the country closer to the United States and to former colonizer France, whose leadership enthusiastically rejected the coup on Friday and insisted it still recognized Bazoum as the nation’s leader. Bazoum spoke with American Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday following the rebellion, receiving State Department support for his legitimacy.
Bazoum is believed to be trapped in the presidential palace; coup leaders have stated they have no intention of harming him in response to widespread outrage over the mutiny in western Africa. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by Nigeria, said in an outraged statement on Thursday it would “not tolerate” the overthrow of the government.
The public in Niger has reacted by organizing small rallies in favor and against the coup. Both the legitimate government and the military junta have urged civilians not to resort to violence. Tchiani claimed his group would enforce a curfew nationwide to keep the peace.
