A military junta that seized power in a coup in the West African nation of Niger has named a platoon commander as its leader after storming the presidential palace and kidnapping the country's strongman leader.
Former colonial ruler France and the African Union both condemned Thursday's coup, when armed soldiers stormed the presidential palace in a hail of gunfire during broad daylight and seized President Mamadou Tandja.
French radio station Radio France International reported that the soldiers had politely escorted Tandja outside to a waiting car, which drove him toward a military camp on the outskirts of the capital.
The junta, calling itself the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy, appeared on national TV to announce it was being led by Salou Djibo, a commander of a platoon based near the capital.
The soldiers said they had suspended the constitution and placed the country under curfew and sealed its borders. Later, the group announced the reopening of the country's borders and the lifting of the curfew.
Speaking for the junta on state TV on Thursday, Colonel Abdoul Karim Goukoye Karimou said they wanted to turn Niger into "an example of democracy and of good governance."
The group is apparently being led by Colonel Abdoulay Adamou-Harouna, the former aide-de-camp of Niger's previous coup leader Major Daouda Mallam Wanke.
Ebru News
Ebru TV