A top official of the United Nations has said there was no sign of Russia's Wagner group in Niger where military officers have announced the removal of President President Mohamed Bazoum.
UN officials in Niger said on Friday that they have not had any contact with the military junta but humanitarian aid will continue to be delivered in the West African country.
The US had earlier on Friday also said it had not seen credible indications of Russian or Wagner Group's involvement in Niger events.
Head of Niger's presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, appeared on state television on Friday and declared himself the president of the transitional council that seized power in a coup.
Gen Tchiani said that soldiers seized power due to worsening insecurity in the country.
Wagner group's boss Yevgeny Prigozhin has 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.
"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 s tate that Africa was in hundreds of years ago," said the message, posted on Thursday evening.
