Coup leaders in Niger who say they have overthrown the elected government won broad army support and called for calm on Thursday after young demonstrators ransacked the ruling party headquarters.
The latest target of a coup in Africa’s turbulent Sahel region, President Mohamed Bazoum has been confined at his residence since Wednesday by his own presidential guard.
Bazoum had defiantly stood his ground as condemnation of the putsch swelled from African and international organisations and allies France, Germany, and the United States.
“The hard-won (democratic) gains will be safeguarded,” Bazoum said on Twitter, which is being rebranded as X.
“All Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom would want this.”
But Armed forces chief General Abdou Sidikou Issa on Thursday swung his weight behind the putschists.
“The military command… has decided to subscribe to the declaration made by the Defence and Security Forces… in order to avoid a deadly confrontation,” he said in a statement.
The landlocked state is one of the world’s poorest, experiencing four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960, as well as numerous other attempts — including two previously against Bazoum.
The 63-year-old is one of a dwindling group of elected presidents and pro-Western leaders in the Sahel, where since 2020 a rampaging jihadist insurgency has triggered coups in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Their juntas have forced out French troops and in Mali, the ruling military has woven a close alliance with Russia.
The coup leader Colonel Amadou Abdramane appeared on national television Thursday urging “the population to remain calm” after youths peeled off from a gathering in support of the putschists in Niamey and ransacked the headquarters of Bazoum’s PNDS party, setting fire to vehicles in the carpark.
About 1,000 people, mostly youngsters, had turned out before the National Assembly in the capital as well as several hundred in the town of Dosso, AFP journalists saw.
Credit: AFP
