Thousands of people have demonstrated in Niger’s capital, Niamey, in support of the country’s military leader, General Abdourahamane Tiani, following a failed army mutiny at the weekend.
The rally came days after supporters of the military government, with assistance from Russian partners, put down the attempted uprising. The mutiny had triggered intense fighting across several strategically sensitive sites in the capital.
Tiani, who took power in a 2023 coup, has yet to issue a statement or appear in public since the attempted uprising.
The demonstration brought together several thousand Nigeriens, including junta followers and ministers, to Place de la Concertation, where hundreds had already rallied on Saturday as the clashes raged for the same purpose.
Several other rallies were planned across several of the West African country’s big cities, according to official media.
Along with cries of “down with the imperialists”, Russian flags were visible in the crowd.
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Moscow’s paramilitaries from the Africa Corps have become Niger’s main partners in the fight against the Sahel region’s widespread and deadly jihadist threat in the wake of the coup.
“We will show the whole world that the Nigerien people stand united” and that “treason will not break our determination“, business minister Abdoulaye Seydou told the rally.
State television had previously broadcast accusations that France, Niger’s former colonial power, was behind the uprising.
Like its fellow junta-run Sahel neighbours in Burkina Faso and Mali, Niger has turned its back on Paris since the coup.
All three have sought closer ties with Russia in tackling the region’s deadly jihadist conflict, which has continued to rage unabated.
