An ex-rebel leader and politician in the Republic of Niger, Rhissa Ag Boula has launched a movement to oppose the military that ousted the President in a July 26 coup.
This will be the first sign of internal resistance to the junta.
According to Boula in a statement he released on Wednesday, his new Council of Resistance for the Republic, CRR, was targeted to reinstate the deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, who had been in detention at his residence since the coup.
The statement claimed that the country, Niger, had been a victim of a tragedy orchestrated by the people tasked with protecting it.
This anti-coup launch is coming as diplomatic efforts to reinstate the President the coup appeared to have been temporarily halted after the junta turned down the latest diplomatic mission and the army governments of neighbouring countries Mali and Burkina Faso, supporting the armed takeover, had made a plea to the United Nations to prevent any military intervention.
Yesterday, the coup leaders refused to grant entry to the African and U.N. envoys, holding out against the pressure to parley ahead of a summit on Thursday, August 10 at which the various heads of state from the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, will deliberate on possibly using force to reinstate the President.
The CRR has meanwhile, given its support to ECOWAS and any other international actors looking to restore constitutional order in Niger. The organisation had also stated that it would make itself available to the bloc for any useful purpose.
A CRR member additionally disclosed that several Nigerien political figures have joined the group but for safety reasons, they could not make their allegiance public.
Ag Boula had played a crucial roles in the uprisings by Tuaregs, a nomadic ethnic group seen in Niger’s desert north, in the 1990s and 2000s and as is common with several former rebels, he was integrated into government under President Bazoum and his predecessor Mahamadou Issoufou.
The extent of the support for the CRR is yet unclear, but Ag Boula’s statement will undoubtedly worry the coup leaders given his influence with the Tuaregs, who hold authority in commerce and politics in majority the north region in the country.
The Tuaregs supporting Boula would be key to securing the junta’s control beyond Niamey’s city limits.
