Two days after his unit overthrew democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, Abdourahmane Tchiani has been named head of a transitional government in Niger.
The announcement was made on Friday on state-run television, which said Tchiani had been named “president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland”.
In a brief TV address, the 62-year-old general stated that intervention had been necessary to prevent "the gradual and inevitable demise" of the country.
Recall that on Wednesday, Tchiani’s unit detained Bazoum in the presidential palace in the capital, Niamey, provoking a flurry of condemnation from leaders within Africa and beyond.
Colonel Amadou Abdramane, the spokesperson for the Nigerien army, said on state TV on Wednesday that security forces had decided to “put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance”.
