Detained Niger president defiant after coup bid

BY USMAN AHMED KANEMPRESS

27TH JULY, 2023

Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum has vowed to protect “hard-won” democratic gains after being detained by elite troops who declared they had taken power.

Bazoum was confined in Niamey on Wednesday by members of his presidential guard, who announced that “all institutions” in the country be suspended, the borders closed and a night-time curfew imposed.

Bazoum has stood his ground amid condemnation from ECOWAS, the African Union and international organisations and Niger’s Western allies.

“The hard-won gains will be safeguarded,” Bazoum said on Twitter, which is being rebranded as ‘X’.

“All Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom would want this”.

Niger Foreign Minister, Hassoumi Massoudou said the country’s “legal and legitimate power” was the one exercised by its elected president.

There had been a “coup bid” but “the whole of the army was not involved,” he stressed.

“We ask all the fractious soldiers to return to their ranks,” he said. “Everything can be achieved through dialogue but the institutions of the republic must function.”

The president of Benin, Patrice Talon, is due in Niamey on Thursday for mediation efforts.

Niger is one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world.

It has experienced four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960, as well as numerous other attempts — including two previously against Bazoum.

63 years old Bazoum, 63, is one of among group of pro-Western leaders where a jihadist insurgency has triggered coups against elected presidents in Mali and Burkina Faso.