A former rebel leader and politician in Niger has launched a movement opposing the junta that took power in a July 26 coup, a first sign of internal resistance to army rule in the strategically important Sahel country.
Rhissa Ag Boula said in a statement seen on Wednesday that his new Council of Resistance for the Republic aimed to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been in detention at his residence since the takeover.
A CRR member said several Nigerien political figures had joined the group but could not make their allegiance public for safety reasons. The U.N., Western powers and democratic ECOWAS member states such as Nigeria want the junta to reinstate a civilian government that had been relatively successful in containing a deadly Islamist insurgency devastating the Sahel region.
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