MILITARY GROUP IN NIGER SAY PRESIDENT BAZOUM HAS BEEN REMOVED, BORDERS CLOSED

Thu 27 July 2023:

Soldiers in Niger say they have deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, following a blockade of the presidential palace in Niamey, the capital of one of the world’s most volatile countries.

A group of troops appeared on national television in the West African country late on Wednesday, only hours after the president was detained.

SOLDIERS HOLDING NIGER PRESIDENT MOHAMED BAZOUM INSIDE PALACE: SECURITY SOURCES

Reading from a statement, Colonel Amadou Abdramane, seated and flanked by nine other officers wearing fatigues, said the defence and security forces had decided to “put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance”.

He said the country’s borders were closed and all institutions of the republic suspended, and announced a national curfew. The soldiers warned against any foreign intervention.

The soldiers, including members of Bazoum’s presidential guard, were previously believed to be in talks with the president, who was described as “safe and well” but his exact location was unknown.

The move by the elite guard unit was swiftly met with opposition from the larger army and national guard, which threatened to attack the presidential guard unless they surrendered.

The UN said its secretary general, António Guterres, also spoke to Bazoum and offered his “full support and solidarity”. Guterres called “on all actors involved to exercise restraint and to ensure the protection of constitutional order”.

A source close to Bazoum described the move as a “fit of temper” by the elite troops adding that “talks” were under way after the soldiers blocked access to the palace at about 6.30am on Wednesday.

The chair of the African Union Commission, H E Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned what he called an “attempted coup”. If confirmed, it would be the fifth attempted coup in west Africa in the past four years.

“It’s a fit of temper by the presidential guard but talks are under way with the president,” the source told the AFP news agency, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The president is fine, he’s safe and sound,” the source said. “He and his family are at the residence.”

The reason for the guards’ behaviour and what was being discussed in the talks were not given.

President Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021, is a close ally of France. The country’s last coup occurred in February 2010, overthrowing the then-president, Mamadou Tandja.

Niger, which is located in the Sahel and is made up primarily of desert, consistently scores near the bottom or at the very bottom of the UN’s human development index, a measure of affluence. It has a population of 22.4 million, which is increasing due to a birthrate of seven children on average for every woman.

Two jihadist campaigns are ravaging the nation: one in the south-west, which stormed from neighboring Mali in 2015, and the other in the south-east, which is being carried out by jihadists based in northeastern Nigeria.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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