Presidency sealed off in coup-prone Niger

Niamey, Niger (AFP):

Members of Niger’s Presidential Guard have sealed off the residence and offices of President Mohamed Bazoum, a source close to Bazoum said, describing the move as a “fit of temper” by the elite troops and that “talks” were underway.

The landlocked West African state which suffered years of colonial rule under France is one of the most unstable nations in the world. It has experienced four coups since independence from France in 1960 as well as numerous other attempts on power.

Access was blocked off to Bazoum’s official home and offices in the presidential complex in Niamey, although there was no abnormal military deployment or sounds of gunfire in the area, and traffic was normal according to observers.

“It’s a fit of temper by the Presidential Guard but talks are underway with the president,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“The president is fine, he’s safe and sound,” the source said. “He and his family are at the residence.”

The reason for the guards’ behaviour and what was being discussed in the talks were not given.

An MP with Bazoum’s PNDS party said: “I spoke to the president and to friends who are ministers (and) they are fine.”

Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021, is a close ally of France.

Coup-prone 

The country’s last coup occurred in February 2010, overthrowing then president Mamadou Tandja.

However, there was another attempted coup on March 31, 2021, just two days before Bazoum’s inauguration, according to a security source at the time.

Several people were arrested, including the suspected ringleader, an air force captain named Sani Gourouza.

He was arrested in neighbouring Benin and handed over to the Niger authorities.

Ousmane Cisse, a former interior minister under a military government of transition that ran from 2010-2011, was later detained for his suspected role in the attempted coup.

A second bid to oust Bazoum occurred in March this year “while the president… was in Turkey”, according to a Niger official, who said an arrest was made.

The authorities have never commented publicly on the incident.

In January 2018, nine soldiers and a civilian were sentenced by a military court to jail terms ranging from five to 15 years for having attempted to topple Bazoum’s predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou, in 2015.

Those convicted included General Souleymane Salou, a former army chief of staff and a member of the junta that had forced out Tandja in 2010.

Poverty 

Lying in the heart of the Sahel, Niger is two-thirds desert and persistently ranks at the bottom, or near it, in the UN’s Human Development Index, a benchmark of prosperity.

It has a surging population of 22.4 million, driven by a birthrate averaging seven children per woman.

The country is struggling with two radical insurgencies — one in the southwest, which swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015, and the other in the southeast, involving militants based in northeastern Nigeria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, stoking a humanitarian crisis and further straining the economy.

Niger’s military has received training and logistical support from the United States and France, which have military bases there.

The country is also the hub of France’s operations against radical religious groups in the Sahel, which were reconfigured after French forces quit Mali and Burkina Faso following public pressure against excessive intervention by the former colonial power.