Niger ex-rebel launches anti-coup movement in first sign of internal resistance

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 (CRR) aimed to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been in detention at his residence since the takeover.
The CRR supports regional bloc the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and any other international actors seeking to restore constitutional order in Niger, according to the statement.
A CRR member said several Nigerien political figures had joined the group but could not make their allegiance public for safety reasons.
The launch of the CRR comes as diplomatic efforts to reverse the coup appeared stalled after the junta rejected the latest diplomatic mission and the army governments of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, which back the armed takeover, appealed to the United Nations to prevent any military intervention.
Niger's coup leaders denied entry to African and UN envoys on Tuesday, resisting pressure to negotiate ahead of a summit on Thursday at which ECOWAS heads of state will discuss possible use of force.
The UN, 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.
But Mali and Burkina Faso, ECOWAS members that have rejected Western allies since their own juntas took power in coups in the past two years, have vowed to defend Niger's new army rulers from any forceful attempt to remove them.