Niger General Abdourahmane Tchiani, who led a coup in Niger, took to state television on Friday to ask for support for the military takeover, two days after members of the presidential guard detained democratically elected leader Mohamed Bazoum.

Wednesday's coup set off political chaos that could reverse the nation's fight against armed insurgency and increase Russia’s influence in West Africa.

As Tchiani spoke on Friday, Niger state television identified him as the leader of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, the group of soldiers who said they staged the coup.

Tchiani, who also reportedly goes by Omar, said the country needed to change course to avoid “the gradual and inevitable demise” and thus he and others had decided to intervene.

“I ask the technical and financial partners who are friends of Niger to understand the specific situation of our country in order to provide it with all the support necessary to enable it to meet the challenges,” he said.

The coup plotters also warned against any foreign military intervention, in a statement read out on national TV.

The statement, which comes days after the putschists detained the president, warned of "the consequences that will flow from any foreign military intervention".

Tchiani's appearance seemed to be an effort to show he was in charge, though the situation was still in flux.

Friday was the first time that he appeared on television in the last 48 hours since the coup was first announced by Air Force Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane.

Tchiani was also not the first top general who declared his support of the coup. Instead, it was Niger's armed forces chief General Abdou Sidikou Issa who declared on Thursday that he is supporting the coup attempt.

"The military command... has decided to subscribe to the declaration made by the Defence and Security Forces... in order to avoid a deadly confrontation between the various forces," he was quoted in a statement.

'Mysterious chief'

Little is known of the self-declared leader of the latest Niger coup.

The African Press Agency (APA) describes him as "the mysterious chief of the presidential guard since 2015".

He reportedly hails from the Tillabéri region of western Niger.

According to APA, Tchiani is a confidant of former President Mahamadou Issoufou, the predecessor of President Bazoum. Bazoum himself served alongside Tchiani as the he had served as Issoufou's foreign minister and then interior minister.

Bazoum was elected president in a runoff in February 2021 and took over from Issoufou two months later in the first ever peaceful transition of power in the country since 1960.

Tchiani was reportedly instrumental in routing soldiers following a previous coup attempt just two days before Bazoum was sworn into office. In a vote of confidence, Bazoum kept Tchiani in his strategic post when he became president.

But according to reports, Bazoum reportedly indicated recently that he had planned to reorganise the presidential security apparatus and wanted Tchiani out as head of the presidential guards.

Before Bazoum could make the move, however, the presidential guards decided to detain him, citing the "continuing degradation of the security situation, the bad economic and social governance" as the reasons behind the decision.

Now it appears Tchiani may be behind the latest powerplay - the latest in a series of coups the country faced since becoming independent from France about 63 years ago.

As this developed, Kenyan President William Ruto called the army takeover "a serious setback" for Africa.

"The aspirations of the people of Niger for constitutional democracy were subverted by an unconstitutional change of government," he said in a video message.

The European Union threatened to cut aid to Niamey after what it said was a "serious attack on stability and democracy" in Niger.

France also issued another statement declaring that it does not recognise the leaders of the putsch.

Bazoum, "democratically elected by the people of Niger, is the only president of the Republic of Niger", the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

"France does not recognise the authorities resulting from the putsch led by General (Abdourahamane) Tchiani."

It added that France "reaffirmed in the strongest terms the clear demands of the international community calling for the immediate restoration of constitutional order and democratically-elected civilian government in Niger."

Meanwhile, the head of Russia's Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who remains active despite leading a failed mutiny against the Russian army's top brass last month, hailed Niger's military coup as good news and offered his fighters' services to bring order.

A voice message on Telegram app channels associated with Wagner which they said was Prigozhin did not claim involvement in the coup, but described it as a moment of long overdue liberation from Western colonisers and made what looked like a pitch for his fighters to help keep order.

"What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers. With colonisers who are trying to foist their rules of life on them and their conditions and keep them in the state that Africa was in hundreds of years ago," said the message, posted on Thursday evening.