Head of Guard Unit Is New Niger Leader

NIAMEY, Niger — The head of the presidential guard unit that diplomats and witnesses say assassinated Niger’s president has been named the leader of this West African nation, the government announced Sunday.

Daouda Malam Wanke, 45, was named president and head of the National Council for Reconciliation, which will lead Niger for a nine-month transition period, state-run radio reported.

Military spokesman Capt. Hamidou Djibrila said the military also had ordered the Supreme Court and National Assembly dissolved and the constitution suspended.

President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara died in a hail of gunfire Friday at Niamey’s airport as he prepared to board a helicopter. He was buried Sunday in his home village.

Although the motives for Mainassara’s death remain unclear, he was not a popular figure. He seized power in a January 1996 coup against Niger’s first democratically elected government.