Niger's coup plotters form government in defiance of ECOWAS
The self-styled Conseil National de Sauvegarde de la Patrie (CNSP), which took power after a military coup against the legitimate president Mohammed Bazoum, has defied the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is deeply concerned about the dire situation in the Nigerian country.
Niger's ruling military junta, led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, has formed a new transitional government with 21 new ministers after it recently appointed economist Mahamane Lamine Zeine as the nation's new prime minister.
The CNSP on Wednesday initialled the decree to form a new executive in principle provisional with 21 new ministers, six of them military and including two ministers of state and a deputy minister, according to the official Nigerian news agency ANP. At the helm is Prime Minister Mahamane Lamine Zeine, who will also serve as Minister of Economy and Finance due to his background as an economist.
Salifou Mody takes charge of the Ministry of Defence and Mohammed Toumba of the Ministry of the Interior, a relevant fact because these are two very important people within the military junta that governs the country after the coup d'état. Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, spokesman for the CNSP, will be in charge of Youth and Sports. The other ministries to be occupied by the military are Health, Transport, Water, Sanitation and Environment.
This strategic move with the appointment of the transitional government comes ahead of the ECOWAS leaders' summit in Abuja (Nigeria) on Thursday to study the situation in Niger after the ultimatum given by the supranational body to the coup leaders to restore constitutional order under the threat of possible military action ended last Sunday. "The leaders of the Economic Community of West African States will hold a new extraordinary summit on the political situation in the Republic of Niger," ECOWAS said in a recent official communiqué.
Opposition to international condemnation
The coup plot also flies in the face of international condemnation of the coup that brought down the democratically elected government led by Mohammed Bazoum, the president of the troubled Sahel zone who was more in tune with the West and who worked to eradicate criminal and terrorist gangs in the area. Most of the countries in the region are governed by military juntas, installed in power in some cases also after coups d'état, as is the case in Mali and Burkina Faso, and this has created considerable concern within the international community, which has called for the restitution of the ousted executive and a return to democratic order, including relevant countries such as France, the former colonial metropolis in Niger, and the United States.
Thus, external warnings have not stopped the coup leaders in Niger from continuing with their plan and appointing a government, aggravating the worrying situation of a country mired in political instability and poverty.
The CNSP thus temporarily assumes the executive and legislative powers with its president, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, now exercising the functions of head of state.
The situation is tense because Niger's ruling military junta has not budged on anything since the coup d'état. Indeed, on the eve of Thursday's ECOWAS summit, a joint delegation comprising representatives of the Economic Community of West African States, the United Nations and the African Union was prevented from entering Niger on Tuesday, an official communiqué said. ECOWAS indicated that this mission was cancelled following a letter sent by the military authorities in Niger, which indicated that it would not receive this tripartite delegation.