Thousands of people backing the coup in Niger marched through the streets of the capital denouncing France, the country’s former colonial power, waving Russian flags, and setting a door at the French Embassy ablaze on Sunday before the army broke up the crowd.

Gunshots rang out across Burkina Faso's capital on Saturday and fire broke out at the French embassy after self-declared leader Ibrahim Traore accused President Paul-Henri Damiba of staging a counter-offensive after his apparent ouster a day earlier.