A former rebel leader and politician in Niger has launched a movement opposing the junta that took power in a July 26 coup, a first sign of internal resistance to army rule in the strategically important Sahel country.
Rhissa Ag Boula said in a statement seen on Wednesday that his new Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) aimed to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been in detention at his residence since the takeover.
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The challenge from Ag Boula raises the spectre of internal conflict in Niger, a major uranium producer that hosts thousands of U.S. and Western European troops as part of international efforts to contain Islamist insurgents in the junta has so far rebuffed diplomatic overtures from African, U.S. and U.N. envoys, while its allies, the army rulers of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, have called on the United Nations and African Union to prevent any military intervention.
On Thursday, heads of state from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) are scheduled to meet in the Nigerian capital, Abuja to discuss Niger, including the possible use of force to restore constitutional order.
Editor Oloyede Oworu
