General Abdourahamane Tiani held one of the highest military positions in Niger, serving as the head of an elite unit formed to protect the president in 2011 after rising through the ranks of the army over two decades. Last week, Tiani used his position and his men to do the exact opposite, detaining President Mohamed Bazoum at the presidential palace and appearing on state television on Friday to declare himself the head of state, confirming the occurrence of the seventh military coup in West and Central Africa in three years.
Tiani (59 years old) stated that soldiers seized power due to a lack of security caused by a rebellion waged by Islamic extremists for the past decade, which has resulted in thousands of soldiers and civilians losing their lives across the Sahel region of Africa. He reiterated justifications provided by military leaders in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, where the military has been in power since 2020. Tiani said, "We cannot continue the same proposed approach until now, as it puts us at risk of our nation gradually and inevitably disappearing."
The insecurity reached Tiani's hometown in a small village in the Tillabéri region of southwestern Niger, which has witnessed some of the fiercest battles, including an attack on a military base in 2021 that claimed the lives of 89 soldiers. Tiani attended local schools before joining the military in 1985, where he served in various locations across the country, including the town of Agadez in the north during the Tuareg uprising in the 1990s, according to a biography released by the new ruling military council.
The biography noted that he received training in France, Morocco, and Senegal, in addition to the United States, where he studied at the College of International Security Affairs at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C. Tiani has held positions as a commander and external observer for regional forces and UN forces during conflicts in Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan, earning some of the highest military honors in Niger.
Currently, Tiani has become a pivotal figure in overseeing the fate of a region where Russian influence is growing, while France, the former colonial power, has been expelled from Mali and Burkina Faso. Regional powers have threatened military intervention if Bazoum is not restored to power within days. Just last week, Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, was seen as the last ally of the West in the region. The United States and the European Union hastened to offer aid, investments, and training to Niger. French and American forces are stationed there; however, their future is now in doubt.
The speed of change in Niger is evident in Tiani's biography. The document reviewed by Reuters is printed, except for a last-minute handwritten update at the bottom of the list of his positions, stating, "President of the National Council for the Protection of the Homeland, Head of State, July 28, 2023."
