NIGER: The new military leader

Niger's new military leader, Major Daouda Mallam Wanke, who seized power in a coup last week has been a military man all his professional life. According to a brief profile broadcast by the 'Voix du Sahel' government radio station on Monday, Wanke, a father of four, was born in 1954 in Yelu, a village in the country's southernmost Gaya District some 250 km south of the capital Niamey. In the mid 1970s, it said he received training in "military engineering management" in Algeria. "From 1980 to 1983, he attended the Antsirabe military academy in Madagascar. From 1983 through to 1984, he attended an artillery management course in France. He was also in Montpellier in France for training," it said. In Niger, he has since held "top" positions in the army. These included command of the Niamey Support Company, a post as commander of the 10th Inter-Arms Battalion in Niamey, and until the assassination of President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara on Friday, he was commander of the presidential guard.