French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said there were 'ways out' for coup plotters who chose to heed global condemnation of President Mohamed Bazoum's ouster.
NIAMEY - Coup leaders in Niger said Thursday they had won broad army support and called for calm in the troubled country, but former colonial power France said it did not consider the apparent putsch to be "final".
France, a key ally that has 1,500 soldiers in Niger, previously called for "the restoration of the integrity of Nigerien democratic institutions"."The military command... has decided to subscribe to the declaration made by the Defence and Security Forces... in order to avoid a deadly confrontation," he said in a statement.
About 1,000 people, mostly youngsters, had turned out before the National Assembly in the capital as well as several hundred in the town of Dosso, AFP journalists saw."We want the same thing as in Mali and Burkina Faso," shouted 19-year-old student Alassane Alhousseini.Niger's coup leaders -- 10 men in military uniform -- had appeared on television overnight.
The Economic Community of West African States on Thursday demanded Bazoum's "immediate release", saying he "remains the legitimate and legal President of Niger".The latest coup effort raises fears of further instability and a "risk of disengagement" on the security front, said Alain Antil, head of the Sub-Saharan Africa Centre at France's International Relations Institute .
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