Niger junta supporters rally after failed mutiny

Several thousand people demonstrated in Niger's capital Niamey on Wednesday in support of junta chief General Abdourahamane Tiani after a failed army mutiny at the weekend, Nigerien journalists reported.

The rally brought junta supporters and ministers to Place de la Concertation, where hundreds had already rallied on Saturday while clashes were taking place.

Tiani, who took power in a 2023 coup, has not issued a statement or appeared in public since the attempted uprising.

Official media said other rallies were planned in several major cities across Niger.

Russian flags were visible in the crowd, along with chants against “imperialists”. Moscow's Africa Corps paramilitaries have become Niger's main security partners since the coup.

Business Minister Abdoulaye Seydou told the rally that Nigeriens would show the world they were united and that “treason will not break our determination”.

General Amadou Ibro, Tiani's personal chief of staff, claimed the mutiny's “sponsors are based abroad”. State television had previously accused France, Niger's former colonial power, of being behind the uprising.

Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali are all led by juntas and have turned away from France while seeking closer ties with Russia as they face jihadist violence in the Sahel.