Niger President Mohamed Bazoum on Wednesday was being held by disgruntled members of the elite Presidential Guard, who in turn were given an “ultimatum” by the army, a source close to Bazoum said on Wednesday.
The West African bloc ECOWAS condemned what it called an “attempted coup” and called on the “plotters” to release Bazoum immediately and without condition.
A close ally of France, Bazoum was elected in 2021, taking the helm of a country mired in poverty and burdened by a history of chronic instability.
Members of the guard on Wednesday morning sealed off access to the president’s residence and offices, and after talks broke down “refused to release the president,” the presidential source said.
“The army has given them an ultimatum,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
In a message on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X, the president’s office said “elements of the Presidential Guard (PG) had a fit of temper… (and) tried unsuccessfully to gain the support of the national armed forces and the national guard.”
“The army and national guard are ready to attack the elements of the PG who are involved in this fit of temper if they do not return to a better disposition,” the presidency said.
“The president and his family are well,” it added.
The reason for the guards’ anger was not disclosed.
Access was blocked off to the presidential complex in Niamey, although there was no abnormal military deployment or sounds of gunfire in the area, and traffic was normal, an AFP journalist saw.
In a statement issued from Nigeria, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) condemned what it called an “attempted coup d’Etat” against a democratically-elected leader.
The bloc and the international community at large will hold all those involved to be responsible for the safety of Bazoum, his family, members of the government and public, it warned.
The landlocked Sahel state has experienced four coups since independence from France in 1960 as well as numerous other attempts on power, including against Bazoum himself.
The country’s last coup occurred in February 2010, overthrowing then president Mamadou Tandja.
There was an attempted coup just days before Bazoum’s inauguration in April 2021, according to a security source at the time.
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 anti-jihadist operations in the Sahel, which were reconfigured after French forces quit Mali and Burkina Faso following political bust-ups with those countries.
