Detained Niger president defiant after coup bid

Niamey, Niger (AFP):

Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum has defiantly vowed to protect “hard-won” democratic gains after he was detained by elite troops who declared they had taken power in the troubled West African nation.

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

Amid fierce condemnation from African and international organisations and Niger’s Western allies, Bazoum has stood his ground.

“The hard-won gains will be safeguarded,” Bazoum said on Twitter’.

“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.”

Coup-prone 

The landlocked Sahel state which endured long years of French colonial rule is now one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world.

It has experienced four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960. There have also been numerous other attempted coups — including two previously against Bazoum.

Bazoum, 63, is one of a dwindling group of pro-Western leaders in the Sahel, where a rampaging radical insurgency has triggered coups against elected presidents in Mali and Burkina Faso.

These radical groups call for the exit of French intervention troops in the region, and have successfully managed to rid Mali of direct French influence.