In 2011, after two decades climbing the ranks of Niger's army, Abdourahamane Tiani was handed one of the military's most prized appointments: the head of an elite unit set up to protect the president.
Last week, Tiani, a general, used his position and manpower to do the opposite. He imprisoned President Mohamed Bazoum in the presidential palace and appeared on state television on Friday to declare himself head of state, confirming the seventh military coup in West and Central Africa in three years.
“We cannot continue with the same approaches proposed so far, as it risks witnessing the gradual and inevitable disappearance of our nation,” he said. He attended local schools before joining the army in 1985 where he was posted across the country, including the northern town of Agadez during a Tuareg uprising in the 1990s, according to a biography released by the new ruling military council.
He served as a commander and observer abroad for regional and UN forces during conflicts in Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan, and has been decorated with some of the country's highest military honours.
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