Niger: Former Rebel Leader Forms Resistance Group Against Coup Plotters

A politician and former rebel leader in Niger, Rhissa Ag Boula, has formed a resistance group opposing the military officials who plotted the coup that ousted the country’s civilian president on July 26.

The group is the first sign of internal resistance that the new military government has faced since it took control of the country.

Ag Boula released a statement on Wednesday, where he said his group, the Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) plans to reinstate the ousted President, Mohammed Bazoum, who has been detained by the military government since the takeover, Reuters reports.

“Niger is the victim of a tragedy orchestrated by people charged with protecting it,” the statement read.

In the statement, Ag Boula indicated his support for ECOWAS and other international bodies looking to restore constitutional order in the country.

He added that the CRR would make itself available to any of the bodies for any useful purposes.

Ag Boula’s resistance group comes just as diplomatic efforts to reverse the coup have been unsuccessful following the military government’s rejection of the diplomatic mission from the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Both AU and ECOWAS envoys were denied entry by the military government on Tuesday, resisting pressure to negotiate before a summit on Thursday at which heads of state from the ECOWAS will discuss the possible use of force.

Ag Boula played a leading role in uprisings by Tuaregs, a nomadic ethnic group present in Niger’s desert north, in the 1990s and 2000s.

Like many former rebels, he was integrated into the government under Bazoum and his predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou.