Mutinous Soldiers Say They’ve Taken Niger

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — People in Niger awoke to a divided country after mutinous soldiers claimed to have ousted the president.

But Niger’s government said it will never accept their rule and has called for the population to reject it.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassoumi Massoudou told news network France 24 in an interview Thursday that there was an attempted coup but the government won’t accept it.

The mutinous soldiers, who call themselves the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, said they had seized control because of the deteriorating security and bad economic and social governance.

President Mohamed Bazoum was elected in 2021 in the West African nation’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960.