This is on point. I'm Magna Chakrabardi.

Good morning. I see calls from friends and colleagues. There was no remorse. There was

no any tension situation that might be hint or a reason or a justification for a coup.

So everybody was surprised.

Kiari Limon Tinguiri is or was, depending on who you ask, Niger's ambassador to the United

States. One month ago, his country's democratically-elected president Mohamed Basoum was deposed in

a coup d'état. Soon after, coup leaders themselves called Ambassador Tinguiri. They wanted him

to join Niger's new military government. They tried to impress me, they called me to

general them. I'm genuinely democrat. I believe in election. I believe in the rule of the law.

I believe in the will of the people. I will never settle a military regime that's very clear.

So, coup leaders swiftly proclaimed that they'd stripped him of his ambassador's post.

Tinguiri rejects that for one simple reason.

And Ambassador is accredited by a recognized government to another recognized government.

So, as long as the United States has not recognized the agenda, the agenda has no legitimacy,

not legal power either to find Ambassador or to appoint another one. I took with the

US government and I'm sure that they are doing whatever they can to free present

Mohamed Basoum and his family and to restore legitimate constitutional power in Niger.

Niger is a huge country in the sub-Saharan region known as the Sahel. Following the July 26 coup,

Niger became the latest country in the Sahel to fall under military rule. That list includes

Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Sudan. And the Sahel has been plagued by Jihadi terrorists for years.

However, prior to the coup and with the help of the US and French counterterrorism forces,

Niger was making progress towards peace and democracy. One of the reasons why the July 26

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