Two rivals claim to be in charge in Niger

Nairobi, Kenya, Aug. 9: Nearly two weeks have passed since the coup in Niger, and the two men making competing claims to power have gone quiet in recent days. One is the ousted president, who said last week he's being held hostage and has been publicly silent since then. The other is the military junta leader who asserts he acted out of concern for the country's security and has encouraged Nigeriens to defend it from any foreign intervention.

Here's a look at President Mohamed Bazoum and Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani as Niger's junta defies a threat by the West African regional bloc to step in and use force if necessary:

PRESIDENT MOHAMED BAZOUM

As neighbors in West Africa experienced multiple coups and kicked out the military forces of former colonizer France in recent months, Niger's president came to be seen as a crucial partner of the West in the fight against groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State organization in what has become the global epicenter of extremism, the vast Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert.

The 63-year-old Bazoum took office in early 2021 in Niger's first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since the country's independence in 1960. The preferred successor of outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufou, Bazoum had been a teacher by training and a longtime Cabinet minister who comes from Niger's small ethnic Arab minority.

Welcomed for his security cooperation with the United States, France and others as alliances with neighboring countries deteriorated, Bazoum was one of three "close partners" among African leaders to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at last year's U.S.-Africa summit.

Closer to home, Bazoum received praise for taking on issues such as child marriage in the country with the world's highest birth rate.

But some in his security forces reportedly felt threatened as Bazoum made changes in leadership in recent months. Under house arrest as the coup unfolded, he managed to stay in touch with the outside world by phone, at least for more than a week.

"I write this as a hostage," Bazoum managed to dictate for an opinion piece published in The Washington Post on Thursday.

In that piece, he pushed back against the coup leaders' assertions that they had acted in response to growing insecurity in Niger, saying that "to the south, where we face the terrorist group Boko Haram, there have been almost no attacks for two years." He added, "The country's north and west have likewise suffered no major attacks since I took office." (AP)