A former rebel commander and politician in Niger has started an anti-junta movement, the first evidence of internal opposition to army rule in the strategically vital Sahel country.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Rhissa Ag Boula stated that his new Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) planned to reinstall deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained at his house since the coup.
“Niger is the victim of a tragedy orchestrated by people charged with protecting it,” the statement added.
The launch comes as diplomatic efforts to overturn the coup looked to be blocked after the junta rejected the most recent diplomatic mission and the army governments of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, which support the armed takeover, appealed to the UN to oppose military action.
On Tuesday, Niger’s coup leaders refused admission to African and UN envoys, defying efforts to talk before a Thursday conference in which heads of state from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would debate the use of force.
According to Ag Boula’s statement, the CRR supports ECOWAS and any other foreign players working to restore constitutional order in Niger, and it will make itself accessible to the bloc for any helpful purpose.
According to a CRR member, some Nigerien political leaders had joined the organisation 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 minority found in Niger’s desert north. He, like many other former insurgents, was absorbed into the government by Bazoum and his predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou.
While the level of CRR support is unknown, Ag Boula’s comments will alarm coup leaders given his popularity among Tuaregs, who control business and politics in most of the vast north. Tuareg support would be critical to extending the junta’s rule beyond Niamey’s municipal borders.
The United Nations, Western countries, and democratic ECOWAS member nations like Nigeria want the junta to restore a civilian administration that had been largely effective in suppressing a violent Islamist insurgency that was wreaking havoc on the Sahel area.
Niger is the world’s seventh-largest producer of uranium, the most extensively used nuclear fuel, adding to its strategic significance.
A Complicated Diplomatic Picture
However, Mali and Burkina Faso, both ECOWAS members that have spurned Western partners since their own juntas grabbed power in coups over the last two years, have sworn to support Niger’s new army rulers against any aggressive attempt to depose them.
In a letter to the UN, they urged the Security Council to oppose any armed action against Niger, claiming that such action would have unforeseeable implications such as the dissolution of ECOWAS, a humanitarian crisis, and a worsening security situation.
They accused Western powers of using ECOWAS as a cover for a hostile agenda against Niger and stated their commitment to finding solutions via diplomacy and discussion.
Despite such pledges from its friends, the Niger junta has repeatedly refused to engage with African, US, and UN envoys, and the generals in command have shown no evidence of being willing to make any concessions.
The revolution has already resulted in border and airspace bans, which have hampered humanitarian relief in one of the world’s poorest countries.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated late Tuesday that he had talked with Bazoum and expressed his commitment to finding a peaceful end to the problem.
“The United States reiterates our call for the immediate release of him and his family,” he said on the social media network X, formerly known as Twitter.
On Tuesday, Nigeria’s President and ECOWAS Chairman Bola Tinubu placed more penalties on Niger, targeted at squeezing organisations and persons engaged in the takeover, and stated that all alternatives remained on the table.
According to ECOWAS, the use of force would be the last option. The EU’s defence chiefs have decided on a possible military response plan, which heads of state will consider at their summit on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria.
The role of Russia in the Sahel area, which Western nations worry may become stronger if the junta in Niger follows Mali’s example by driving out Western soldiers and letting in Wagner mercenaries, complicates the diplomatic situation even more.
Under agreements with the now-deposed civilian administration, Niger now hosts US, French, German, and Italian forces.
