Gen. Salifou Modi, Bazoum’s former army chief of staff and the ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, is now vice president of the junta. The appointment of the cabinet flies in the face of the ECOWAS, which gave the junta one week to restore elected leader Mohamed Bazoum or face military intervention. ECOWAS leaders slammed the July 26 coup and slapped economic sanctions on the country. A meeting of the regional leaders in Abuja, Nigeria, on Sunday, gave Tchiani to surrender power. Tchiani on the eve of the country’s Independence Day, which falls on Aug. 3, criticized ECOWAS and branded its attitude “contemptuous and bellicose”.

Source: The North Africa Journal August 03, 2023 16:33 UTC