SONNA – Soldiers in Niger appeared on national TV late Wednesday to announce the ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum.
Calling themselves the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CLSP), they read a coup statement in a video they shot and broadcast on state television ORTN.
Bazoum was overthrown and the constitution was suspended due to the worsening security situation and socio-economic crisis the country was going through, according to a statement by Col. Major Amadou Abdramane.
The statement noted that a curfew will be imposed between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. and that all borders have been closed.
President Bazoum was detained in the morning by elements of the presidential guard.
People took to the streets to prevent the coup and called for Bazoum’s release.
General Omar Tchiani, who has served as the commander of the presidential guard for around 10 years, is allegedly behind the coup.
It was alleged that Bazoum recently wanted to dismiss Tchiani, who held the same post under the previous President, Mahamadou Issoufou.
“A coup attempt has been underway in Niger. This act of factious officers aims…to call into question our hard-won freedoms, our democracy and the progress made,” Hassoumi Massoudou, the interim prime minister of the Bazoum government, said early Thursday on Twitter.
“This adventure with disastrous objectives will fail because it will come up against the outcry everywhere in Niger of the democratic forces and of progress,” he noted.
Massoudou called on “all democrats, all patriots, to defeat this adventure which carries all the dangers for our country. Long live democracy, long live Niger.”
The African Union, Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), European Union, UN and France condemned the actions of the Nigerien military and called for the unconditional release of Bazoum, 63, who was democratically elected in April 2021.
Source: Anadol
