Niger

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — The only way to avoid conflict in Niger between mutinous soldiers who ousted the president and regional countries threatening an invasion to reinstate him is to recognize the new regime, a rights defender with ties to the junta told The Associated Press.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Tensions are escalating between Niger’s new military regime and the West African regional bloc that has ordered the deployment of troops to restore Niger’s flailing democracy.

The ECOWAS bloc said on Thursday it had directed a “standby force” to restore constitutional order in Niger after its Sunday deadline to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum expired.

NIAMEY, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Niger's junta appointed 21 ministers late Wednesday, ahead of a meeting of West African leaders who will discuss their response to a military coup in Niger.

Abdourahamane Tchiani, president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), a governing body established by the soldiers after the coup, signed a decree on the appointment of new cabinet members, none of them from the ousted government.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s deposed president is running out of food and experiencing other increasingly dire conditions two weeks after he was ousted in a military coup and put under house arrest, an advisor told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

President Mohamed Bazoum, the West African nation’s democratically elected leader, has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since mutinous soldiers moved against him on July 26.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Nigeriens awoke Tuesday to deepening uncertainty about whether a regional bloc will follow through on its threat to use military force to try to reinstall ousted President Mohamed Bazoum or if last-minute diplomacy will prevail, nearly two weeks after mutinous soldiers overthrew the country’s democratically elected leader.

The West African regional bloc ECOWAS had given the mutinous soldiers until Sunday to release and reinstall Bazoum or they threatened to use force.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — West Africa’s regional bloc says heads of state will meet Thursday to discuss their next steps after Niger’s military junta defied the bloc’s deadline to reinstate the country’s ousted president while its mutinous soldiers closed the country’s airspace and accused foreign powers of preparing an attack.

State television reported the junta’s latest actions Sunday night, hours before the deadline set by regional bloc ECOWAS, which has warned of using military force if the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum isn’t returned to power.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Niger’s military junta says it is severing military agreements with France, its former colonial ruler, firing some of the previous government’s key ambassadors and warning citizens of the West African nation to watch for foreign armies and spies. A regional delegation’s efforts at negotiation quickly deadlocked.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Hundreds of people rallied in support of Niger’s ruling junta in the capital on Thursday, denouncing France and others who have criticized a recent coup — as the country’s military leaders sought to exploit anti-Western sentiment to shore up their takeover.

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — France prepared to evacuate French and other European nationals from Niger on Tuesday, telling them to carry no more than a small bag, after a military coup there won backing from three other West African nations ruled by mutinous soldiers.

The French Foreign Ministry in Paris cited recent violence that targeted the French Embassy in Niamey, the capital, as one of the reasons for the decision.

The closure of Niger’s airspace also “leaves our compatriots unable to leave the country by their own means,” the ministry said.

NIAMEY, July 31 (Reuters) - In 2011, after two decades climbing the ranks of Niger's army, Abdourahamane Tiani was handed one of the military's most prized appointments: the head of an elite unit set up to protect the president.

Last week, Tiani, a general, used his position and manpower to do the opposite. He imprisoned President Mohamed Bazoum in the presidential palace and appeared on state television on Friday to declare himself head of state, confirming the seventh military coup in West and Central Africa in three years.