The coup leaders in Niger appointed an army general as the new leader of the nation on Friday July 28 , which has been facing instability due to jihadist attacks. They also issued a warning, cautioning against any foreign military intervention.

Niger’s Putschists named an army general as the new leader of the unstable jihadist-hit nation on Friday and warned against any foreign military intervention.

General Abdourahamane Tchiani, head of the Presidential Guard since 2011, appeared on state television saying he was the “president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland”.

The general presented the coup as a response to “the degradation of the security situation” linked to jihadist bloodshed.

A statement followed from the Putschists on TV which warned of “the consequences that will flow from any foreign military intervention”.

On the third day since President Mohamed Bazoum was detained, former colonial master France demanded the restoration of the democratically elected government saying it “does not recognize” the Putschists, and calling Bazoum “sole president”.

Bazoum and his family have been confined since Wednesday morning to their residence at the presidential palace located within the Guard’s military camp.

He is said to be in good health and has been able to talk by telephone to other heads of state.

The Guard’s chiefs who staged the coup on Thursday had won broad army support.

Armed forces chief General Abdou Sidikou Issa swung his weight behind the Putschists saying it was “in order to avoid a deadly confrontation”.

The latest target of a coup in Africa’s turbulent Sahel, Bazoum has tried to stand his ground as condemnations swelled from African and international organizations, allies Germany and the United States, as well as France.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna had seemed to hold out hope for the president’s position.

France, which has 1,500 soldiers in Niger, would support sanctions, she said.

ECOWAS has demanded Bazoum’s “immediate release”, saying he “remains the legitimate and legal President of Niger”.

The coup plotters had on Thursday urged “the population to remain calm”, after young men ransacked Bazoum’s PNDS party headquarters, setting fire to vehicles.

They had split off from a 1,000 people who had demonstrated in the capital.

Some held Russian flags and chanted anti-French and pro-Moscow slogans.

Khalil Wakim, with AFP