From Victor Osula, Abuja
In furtherance of the anti- coup stand of ECOWAS leaders at the weekend against the Nigerien coup plotters, Chadian military ruler Mahamat Kaka Idriss Derby, has paid a visit to the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum and head of the military junta, General Abdourahamane Tchiani in Niamey, the country’s capital.
Announcing his diplomatic shuttle on his Twitter handle on Monday, Derby who seized power in Chad following his father’s assassination in 2021, said after his presence in Abuja on Sunday at the invitation of the Chairman of ECOWAS, President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria, he immediately departed Abuja after the meeting of regional leaders and went to Niger to meet the new junta leader Abdourahamane Tchiani, deposed and detained President Mohamed Bazoum and former President Mahamadou Issoufou. On getting there, he discussed a peaceful resolution of Niger’s political crisis following the 26 July Tchiani-led coup.
ECOWAS has imposed a series of sanctions on Niger including a no-fly zone and warned the junta to release and reinstate Bazoum within seven days or face possible military action.
Derby with Bazoum
In response, the coup plotters have closed Niger borders and warned against any foreign interference, defying the regional body, the United Nations, whose Secretary General, Antonio Guterress condemned the coup alongside the United States, and called for the reinstatment of President Bazoum.
