Members of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland gather during a rally in support of General Abdourahamane Tiani outside the former National Assembly in Niamey this week. The head of the African Union on voiced his concern after a failed mutiny in Niger, condemning any attempt to seize power by force.
The pivotal role played by Russia's Africa Corps mercenaries in putting down a mutiny in Niger at the weekend has revealed just how dependent on Moscow the west African country's ruling junta has become.
The growing reliance on Russian mercenaries is also at odds with the junta's insistence that its 2023 coup was about reclaiming the nation's sovereignty and independence from foreign powers, according to analysts.
On Saturday, after a night of intense fighting in the capital Niamey, Niger's military government asked for - and obtained - the Africa Corps' help in wresting back control from disgruntled soldiers who had attacked several sensitive sites and hunkered down in a key military base at the airport.
Russia's ambassador to Niamey, Viktor Voropaev, himself boasted on the same day that the intervention helped "repress a mutiny".
