Niger’s military-appointed prime minister made an unannounced visit to neighbouring Chad on Tuesday as West African states set talks for mulling possible military intervention to reverse his country’s coup and the United States and Russia urged a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian appointed by the military rulers who ousted Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, arrived in Chad for a “working visit,” the Chadian government said on Facebook.
In a statement issued after meeting Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, Zeine said he had brought a message of “good neighbourliness and good fraternity” from the head of Niger’s regime.
Deby, a key player in the unstable Sahel, had flown to the Nigerien capital Niamey four days after the coup.
Photos later showed him pictured next to the detained Bazoum and, separately, with one of the regime’s leaders, General Salifou Mody.