Niger’s army command on Thursday declared its support for a coup instigated the previous day by soldiers of the presidential guard, saying its priority was to avoid destabilising the country.
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The army needed to “preserve the physical integrity” of the president and his family and avoid “a deadly confrontation … that could create a bloodbath and affect the security of the population”, it said in a statement signed by the army chief of staff.
President Mohamed Bazoum earlier urged democratic forces in the country to resist the power grab, as western officials said the status of the coup attempt was unclear.
The soldiers said in a late-night televised address that Bazoum had been stripped of power and the republic’s institutions had been suspended, marking the seventh coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.
They earlier cut off the presidential palace in the capital Niamey with the president inside.
Bazoum, in a social media posting on Thursday morning, vowed to protect “hard-won” democratic gains in a country that is a pivotal ally for Western powers helping to fight an insurgency in the Sahel region.
Niamey was quiet on Thursday as citizens awoke to heavy rain, closed borders and a nationwide curfew imposed by the coup instigators.
Speaking to FRANCE 24, Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou said the elected government remained the legitimate and legal authority in the country.
“The legal and legitimate power is the one exercised by the elected president of Niger Mohamed Bazoum,” being held by the Presidential Guard members, Massoudou said, adding that the detained leader was “in good health”.
Massoudou said not all of the army was involved in the coup attempt, and a number of Western officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters there was no evidence on the ground that the armed forces supported it.
Massoudou also called on “democrats and patriots” to make the “attempted coup” fail, according to a posting on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
EU and UN call for Bazoum’s ‘immediate release’
Landlocked Niger is one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world.
Bazoum, 63, is one of a dwindling group of pro-Western leaders in the Sahel region, where a rampaging jihadist insurgency has triggered coups against elected presidents in Mali and Burkina Faso.
The European Union on Thursday joined international calls for the “immediate release” of Bazoum and his family.
“Niger is an essential partner of the European Union in the Sahel, whose destabilisation would not serve the interest of anyone in the country, the region or beyond,” spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said.
The UN’s human rights chief also called for Bazoum’s release and for constitutional order to be restored.
“I am shocked and distressed by the attempted military takeover in Niger and condemn it in the strongest terms. All efforts must be undertaken to restore constitutional order and the rule of law,” UN human rights chief Volker Turk said in a statement.
“I urge all actors to refrain from violence and respect the rights and fundamental freedoms of all. It is in the interests of all the people of Niger that the important democratic gains made in recent years are safeguarded and preserved,” Turk added.
Bazoum, a former interior minister, was right-hand man to former president Mahamadou Issoufou, who voluntarily stepped down after two terms.
Their handover in April 2021, after elections won by Bazoum in a two-round contest against former president Mahamane Ousmane, marked Niger’s first peaceful transition of power since independence.
(FRANCE 24 with AP and Reuters)