African Union, EU up pressure on Niger coup leaders

The African Union and the European Union joined the chorus of international condemnation of the power grab, the latest to strike the Sahel region.

The African Union demanded Niger's military "return to their barracks and restore constitutional authority" within 15 days as the EU intensified pressure on the coup leaders Saturday by suspending security cooperation with the jihadist-hit country.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the Presidential Guard since 2011, appeared on state television on Friday to declare himself the troubled West African country's new leader.

His forces have confined democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum to his official residence in the capital Niamey since Wednesday, in a putsch Tiani presented as a response to "the degradation of the security situation" linked to jihadist bloodshed.

The African Union and the European Union joined the chorus of international condemnation of the power grab, the latest to strike the Sahel region.

Niger's neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso have both undergone two military coups since 2020, fuelled by anger at a failure to quash long-running insurgencies by jihadists linked to the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.

Also read | Coup bid in Niger: What we know

The AU's Peace and Security Council "demands the military personnel to immediately and unconditionally return to their barracks and restore constitutional authority, within a maximum period of fifteen (15) days", it said in a communique following a meeting Friday on the coup.