The coup in Niger has people asking about potential links to Russia. Neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso have turned to the Kremlin after severing ties with France. Is Moscow behind Niger's coup?

Niger's Junta said on Sunday they had gathered enough evidence to prosecute ousted President Mohamed Bazoum for high treason following his imprisonment last month and Niger's military subsequent dissolving of the elected government.

Defense chiefs from members of the ECOWAS regional bloc meet in Accra to discuss the crisis in Niger. Last week the body activated a "standby force" potentially to intervene in Niger.

The AU said the suspension would remain in place until civilian rule in the country is restored, and that it would assess the implications of a military intervention in Niger.

ECOWAS sanctions on Niger appear to be a double-edged sword. Many Nigerians living near the border with Niger, which Nigeria shut after the coup, say the economic and humanitarian impacts are enormous.

The profound disillusionment gripping Zimbabweans since the 2017 coup has left them questioning their fight for democracy. Experts say military juntas in West Africa may face the same challenge if they don't change.

Military officers in oil-producing Gabon said they had seized power on Wednesday, placing President Ali Bongo under house arrest and naming a new leader after the Central African state's election body announced Bongo had won a third term.

In Peru, 60 percent of people who disappear are women. Over 11,000 women were reported missing in the country last year, the majority of them teenagers. Some disappearances are voluntary. But most are linked to human trafficking networks, prostitution and domestic violence. Despite this poor record, Peru was the first nation in South America to recognise forced disappearances as gender-based violence.

After Gabon's long-ruling President Ali Bongo Ondimba was re-elected for a third term in a controversial election, members of the local military say they have taken over.

EU foreign policy chief Borrell said the coup followed "elections full of irregularities." He addressed reporters ahead of an EU meeting with African stakeholders to also discuss Niger's coup.

We bring you reactions from the pan-African and French press after the coup in Gabon and appointment of a general as transitional president. What future awaits the region? Also: one of India's richest families, the Adani Group, is accused of stock market corruption in a damning report. Finally: Japan's prime minister eats fish from Fukushima's radioactive waters to prove that it's... not radioactive!

The EU foreign ministers met to discuss ways to help West Africa's ECOWAS regional group handle the military takeover in Niger. The meeting came the junta stripped the French ambassador of diplomatic immunity.