NIGER: 207 Soldiers Graduate From Junta-led Military School, Asked To Prepare For ‘Complicated Situations’

The Nigerien Armed Forces headed by a junta have graduated 207 officers from a training school with the rank of second lieutenant.

Niger’s Minister of State for Defence, General Salifou Modi, chaired the ceremony on Tuesday.

He urged them to be ready to engage in a complex situation when the need arises.

”Dear cadets, you are starting your career in a difficult security context for all the countries of the Sahel which are confronted with armed banditry and the activity of the Armed Terrorist Groups (GAT). As a result, you will soon be engaged in complicated situations where you will have to call on the know-how and the interpersonal skills that you have learned in this school,” Modi charged the officers.

The director of the school, Colonel Abdoukadri Amadou Daouda urged the new officers to understand the ”weight of duty and the fierce responsibility which henceforth will be permanently” on them.

The Nigerien News Agency (ANP) reports that the officers included those from Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, the Ivory Coast, Senegal and Chad.

The development is coming amid threat by ECOWAS to invade Niger and restore democratic rule in the country.

The regional bloc has already put soldiers on standby in the event that diplomatic intervention fails.

The junta had ousted president Mohamed Bazoum from power but ECOWAS insisted his position must be restored.

Mali and Burkina Faso had shown interest to fight on the side of Niger if there was war.