On Thursday, hundreds of people gathered for a mass rally in Niger’s capital city, Niamey, to show support for the recent coup.
AFP journalists reported that some of the demonstrators were holding giant Russian flags.
The rally took place at Independence Square, with the call for the demonstration being made by a coalition of civil society associations on the anniversary of Niger’s independence from France in 1960.
According to one protester, Issiaka Hamadou, their main concern is security, and they are open to assistance from any country, including Russia, China, and Turkey.
“We just don’t want the French, who have been looting us since 1960 – they’ve been there ever since and nothing has changed,” he said.
“I have no job after studying in this country, because of the regime (of Bazoum), which is supported by France,” said one student who only gave his first name Oumar. “All that has to go!”
The coup has triggered alarm bells in Western countries struggling to contain a jihadist insurgency that flared in northern Mali in 2012, advanced into Niger and Burkina Faso three years later and now threatens the borders of fragile states on the Gulf of Guinea.
Junta supporters in Niger say France has failed to shield them from the jihadists, whereas Russia would be a stronger ally