With agency report
Two days after staging a coup, head of the Niger Presidential Guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani was on Friday declared as “president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland”, a statement said.
Appearing on state television, the general said soldiers had seized power due to the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel country.
Disgruntled members of the presidential guard had on Wednesday sacked elected President Mohamed Bazoum after he was held hostage since Wednesday morning.
World leaders have continued to condemn the overthrow of constitutional government in the country and calling for release of the detained president.
Earleir on Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken called for the immediate release of Bazoum in the aftermath of his sack by soldiers in the country.
READ ALSO: https://thecrux.org.ng/u-s-demands-immediate-release-of-niger-president-mohamed-bazoum/
Blinken told a news conference in the New Zealand capital Wellington that“whether this constitutes a coup technically or not, I can’t say, that’s for the lawyers to say.
“However, what it clearly constitutes is an effort to seize power by force and to disrupt the constitution.’’v
Similarly, French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday described the coup as “dangerous” for the region as Western powers scrambled to preserve a key ally in the insurgent-stricken Sahel.
“This coup is completely illegitimate and profoundly dangerous, for Nigeriens, for Niger and for the whole region,” Macron said.
Macron said he had spoken to Bazoum, who is being held in his palace, and called for him to be reinstated.
