The army on Thursday supported the putschist soldiers who have been kidnapping Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum for more than 24 hours in Niamey, where the junta accused France of having violated its decision to close the borders.
After Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger, hitherto allied with Western countries, becomes the third country in the Sahel undermined by attacks by groups linked to the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda, to experience a coup d’etat since 2020.
“The military command of the Niger Armed Forces (FAN)” has “decided to subscribe to the declaration of the Defense and Security Forces”, indicates a press release signed by the Chief of Staff, General Abdou Sidikou Issa, in order to “to avoid a deadly confrontation between the different forces”.
Previously President Bazoum had rejected the coup. “The hard-won achievements will be saved. All Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom will see to it,” he said in a message posted Thursday morning on Twitter, renamed X, a few hours after soldiers said on television. national to have overthrown him.
“We are the legitimate and legal authorities”, had for his part declared on France 24 Hamoudi Massoudou, head of Nigerien diplomacy and head of the interim government in the absence of the Prime Minister who was traveling at the time of the putsch.
“There was an attempted coup”, but “it was not the whole of the army which initiated this coup”, assured Mr. Massoudou from Niamey. “We are asking these factious officers to join the ranks. Everything can be achieved through dialogue, but the institutions of the Republic must work,” he continued.
Several hundred people demonstrated on Thursday in Niamey and Dosso (about 100 kilometers from the capital), waving Russian flags and chanting anti-French slogans, to support the putschist soldiers, noted journalists from the AFP.
In Niamey, young people went to the headquarters of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS, in power), a few kilometers from the rally, where they set fire to cars.
The putschist soldiers announced on national television on Wednesday evening that they had overthrown the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, in power since 2021, following “the continuous deterioration of the security situation, poor economic and social governance”.
The junta, which brings together all the bodies of the army, the gendarmerie and the police, suspended the institutions, closed the land and air borders, established a curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. (9 p.m. to 4 a.m. GMT).
On Thursday, the military accused France of violating border closures by landing a military plane at Niamey International Airport. They called “once and for all for strict compliance with the provisions” taken by the junta.
The announcement of the coup came at the end of a day of tension on Wednesday in Niamey, marked by what the regime had called “a movement of mood” of the presidential guard which retains President Bazoum in his official residence.
Before the announcement of the putsch, a West African mediation was to try Thursday to find a solution, denounced by all of Niger’s partners, but in the middle of the day there was no news of this mediation.
The announced putsch was strongly condemned by all Niger’s partners who demanded the “immediate” release of President Bazoum.
Russia, where the second Russia-Africa summit is currently being held, also called for his “swift release”, calling on both sides “to refrain from the use of force and to resolve all contentious issues through peaceful and constructive dialogue. “.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was able to speak with Mr. Bazoum on Wednesday to assure him “clearly that the United States strongly supports him as the democratically elected president of Niger”.
France condemned “any attempt to seize power by force” in Niger, as well as Germany, which asked the army “to return to its barracks”.
In West Africa, Senegalese President Macky Sall also condemned “strongly the military coup in Niger against a democratically elected president”.
Niger is one of the last allies of Western countries in a region of the Sahel ravaged by jihadist violence and whose two neighbours, Mali and Burkina Faso, led by putschist soldiers, have turned to other partners, including Russia.
It is in particular a privileged partner of France in the Sahel, which has deployed 1,500 soldiers there.
The history of Niger is punctuated by coups d’etat: since the independence of this former French colony in 1960, there have been four, the first in April 1974 against President Diori Hamani, the last in February 2010 which overthrew President Mamadou Tandja. Not to mention the numerous putsch attempts.
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27/07/2023 17:18:12 – Niamey (AFP) © 2023 AFP
