The head of Niger’s armed forces on Thursday said he endorsed a declaration by troops who overnight announced they had taken power after detaining the country’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum.
Army spokesman Colonel Major Amadou Adramane speaks during an appearance on national television, after President Mohamed Bazoum was held in the presidential palace, in Niamey, Niger, July 26, 2023 in this still image taken from video. (Reuters)
“The military command of the Nigerien armed forces… has decided to subscribe to the declaration by the defense and security forces… in order to avoid a deadly confrontation between the various forces,” said a statement signed by armed forces chief General Abdou Sidikou Issa.
Bazoum was confined in Niamey on Wednesday by members of his presidential guard, who hours later announced that “all institutions” in the troubled West African nation would be suspended, the borders closed and a night-time curfew imposed.
The landlocked Sahel state 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, where a rampaging extremist insurgency has triggered coups against elected presidents in Mali and Burkina Faso.
