Hours after Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was seized inside his residence by the presidential guards, in a coup attempt, men in military uniforms released a video claiming to have seized power.
According to the American news channel CNN, the video showed a man, identified as Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane along with a huge number of soldiers, declared, “We have decided to put an end to the regime that you know,” citing a deteriorating security situation in the country and “poor economic and social governance.”
Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane also informed about the shutdown of all national institutions and temporary closure of land borders. His statements were written on a paper, he was reading the text from.
The capturing of President Bazoum triggered global condemnation and more concern for a country frequently affected by coups and extreme militancy. The United Nations (UN), the United States (US) and the African Union are among those criticized the act. Ecowas or the West African economic bloc in an official called the events as an “attempted coup” and states it “condemns in the strongest terms the attempt to seize power by force”.
The President who the citizens of Niger support is a crucial connection for the West in the fight against Islamist militancy in West Africa. In Bazoum’s support hundreds of his supporters filled the streets of the capital Niamey. Mostly silent, the city boomed with the sound of gunfire by the soldiers to break the supporters.
In early hours of Wednesday, a statement from the office of the president read on X said that the president’s guards attempted to get support of the military but in vain for their “anti-republican” efforts.
According to some reports, the last former president Mohammed Issoufou with some other leaders engaged themselves in discussions to prevent the act from mounting, but the news of the talks are nowhere to be heard.
“The Army and the National Guard are ready to attack” those involved in this incident, the president’s office said in a tweet. “The President of the Republic and his family are doing well,” it added.
History of Coups
Niger’s long history is dotted with military coups since independence from France in 1960. Its political instability has been lessened in recent years and Bazoum’s taking over the president’s office in 2021 is the first act of democratic transfer of power.
Africa’s Sahel region has been plagued with Islamist insurgencies. Like other nations, United States and France have helped Niger in combatting extremism. However, even after Western aid, countries in the region including Niger’s neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso have also seen many coups in recent years.
