UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned the apparent coup in the African nation of Niger and demanded those detaining country’s president Mohamed Bazoum to release him immediately and unconditionally.
Guterres in his tweet wrote:
I strongly condemn the unconstitutional change of government in Niger, announced on 26 July.
President Bazoum has been detained & I'm concerned for his safety & well-being.
Those involved in this deplorable act must release him with immediate effect & without any precondition.
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) July 27, 2023
After hours of being detained by members of the presidential guard at the politician’s official mansion, soldiers in Niger claimed to have ousted President Mohamed Bazoum from office late on Wednesday.
Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane declared on national television that “the defence and security forces… have decided to put an end to the regime you are familiar with.”
The soldier said that a nationwide curfew was in effect and that the nation’s borders were closed. Additionally suspended were all national institutions, he said.
The declaration followed a day of ambiguity during which the Niger presidency claimed that members of the elite guard unit were participating in a “anti-Republican demonstration” and news organizations claimed that Bazoum was being held at the palace by the mutinous forces.
The United States demanded Bazoum’s release right away.
The moves against Bazoum were described as an attempt to unseat the politician earlier on Wednesday by commissions of the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Bazoum was elected president of the country two years ago in the country’s first peaceful, democratic transfer of power since its independence from France in 1960.
The ECOWAS leadership, according to Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who was chosen last month to chair the commission, will rebuff any efforts to overthrow the government of Niger.
