FORMER REBEL IN NIGER LAUNCHES ANTI-COUP MOVEMENT IN MIDST OF POLITICAL IMPASSE

Wed 09 August 2023:

Just one day before an ECOWAS summit on Thursday, where heads of state from the ECOWAS will discuss the possible use of force, a former rebel leader and politician in Niger has launched a movement opposing the military government that took power in a July 26 coup.

In a statement seen on Wednesday, Rhissa Ag Boula said his new Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) aims to reinstate overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum who has been in detention at his residence since the takeover.

“Niger is the victim of a tragedy orchestrated by people charged with protecting it,” the statement said.

The announcement comes as diplomatic efforts to reverse the coup have stalled after the military government rejected the latest diplomatic mission from the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Niger’s coup leaders denied entry to African and United Nations envoys on Tuesday, resisting pressure to negotiate before a summit on Thursday at which heads of state from the ECOWAS will discuss the possible use of force.

Ag Boula’s statement said it supports ECOWAS and any other international actors seeking to restore constitutional order in Niger, adding that it would make itself available to the bloc for any useful purpose.

Another CRR member reported that some political figures from Niger had joined the organization but were unable to publicly declare their support due to safety concerns.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Ag Boula was a key figure in Tuareg uprisings, a nomadic ethnic group living in the desert north of Niger. He was integrated into the administration under Bazoum and Mahamadou Issoufou, like many other ex-rebels.

While the extent of support for the CRR is unclear, Ag Boula’s statement will worry the coup leaders given his influence among Tuaregs who control commerce and politics in much of the vast north. Support from Tuaregs would be key to securing the military government’s control beyond Niamey’s city limits.

ECOWAS has said the use of force would be the last resort. The bloc’s defence chiefs have agreed on a possible military action plan, which heads of state will discuss at their summit on Thursday in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

Mali and Burkina Faso, ECOWAS members that have rejected Western allies since their own military took power in coups in the past three years, have promised to defend Niger’s new army rulers from any forceful attempt to remove them.

The coup has already led to border and airspace closures that have cut off supplies of medicine and food, hampering humanitarian aid in one of the world’s poorest countries.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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