Niamey (Niger)
Early Wednesday evening the outcome of the attempted coup against the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, remained uncertain. The head of state was still surrounded at home by members of his presidential guard after the failure of several talks. An assault led by the armed forces, obviously remained loyal to the head of state, was mentioned. But no attack had been observed, and the situation was increasingly tense. Foreign capitals, African, but also Western, the United States and France in the lead, two close allies of Niger, multiplied the calls for the release of Mohamed Bazoum, “ democratically elected president”, underlined the White House.
At dawn on Wednesday, the capital of Niger was buzzing with rumors of coups d’etat. Since 6 a.m., President Mohamed Bazoum had been detained at his home with his wife by members of his presidential guard. All morning, access to the presidency was impossible, guarded by these very nervous soldiers in brown berets.
If the presidency first spoke of a “movement of mood”, it quickly qualified the coup de force as a “coup d’etat”. All day long, President Bazoum, surrounded by his close guard, negotiated with the mutineers, until the talks were cut short for lack of agreement. At midday, the presidency announced that the army and the national guard stood “ready to attack the elements of the presidential guard involved in this movement of mood if they did not return to better feelings”.
If the demands of the presidential guard, led since 2011 by General Oumar Tchaini, are still unclear for the time being, they do not seem to have won the support of the rest of the army. During the day, columns of heavily armed pickups flocked to the capital of Niger from neighboring regions, to position themselves on the hotspots of Niamey.
In front of the national television, as well as at the headquarters of the public radio, several vehicles and dozens of men stood guard. “ The national guard and the special forces surround the presidential guard, confirmed a source at the presidency. The situation is extremely tense,” she added. At the end of the day, the order to attack would have been decided, without any shots having been able to be confirmed around the palace.
The news did not fail to worry in France, as Niger is a strategic partner in the Sahel. “‘France is concerned about the current events in Niger and is closely following the evolution of the situation'”, indicated a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the end of the day on Wednesday. While traveling in the Pacific region, the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, closely followed the evolution of the situation with the Minister of the Armed Forces, Sébastien Lecornu.
The two men discussed it at length on the sidelines of the Council of Ministers. In an unstable and fragile Sahelian region, after the coups in Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years, France can only fear a destabilization of President Bazoum. Niger remains a privileged ally of France, which redeployed a large part of the Barkhane force there after its forced departure from Mali in 2022.
However, this is not the first time that the country, or even Mohamed Bazoum, has faced a coup attempt. Niger had seen its institutions falter on the night of March 30 to 31, 2021, on the eve of President Bazoum’s inauguration. The power had however held firm, and many people had been arrested. Mohamed Bazoum had taken advantage of this failed attempt to purge the close security (the other unit responsible for protecting the president with the presidential guard) and place the faithful there.
Another attempt was also reportedly foiled in March 2022, when President Bazoum was visiting Turkey, but no official communication has publicly confirmed this second failed putsch.
This time, several attempts at mediation in Niger and abroad have been made to defuse the coup.
“ All have failed ”, said the presidency. The president of neighboring Benin, Patrice Talon, is the last personality expected to try to reconcile the opposing forces. He was due to arrive Wednesday evening in Niamey.