2023-08-19 09:15:44
They won’t hurt him. In an interview conducted by the New York Times from Dakar on Friday evening, the new Nigerien Prime Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, assured that the soldiers who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum during the July 26 coup will not hurt him. “Nothing will happen to him because we don’t have a tradition of violence in Niger,” he explained.
This declaration appears as a response to the warning of the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu. During an interview Thursday with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, “the conditions of detention of President Bazoum are deteriorating. Any further deterioration in his state of health will have serious consequences,” he said, according to comments reported by an EU official on Friday.
“As far as I know, he is alive”
For his part, at the UN headquarters in New York, the spokesperson for the Secretary General Antonio Guterres was questioned by the press on the state of health of President Bazoum. Stéphane Dujarric assured that he had spoken “to someone who speaks to him regularly. And, yes, to our knowledge, we have no indication that he is not alive. So, as far as I know, he’s alive. »
The Prime Minister appointed by the putschists on August 7 was also questioned by the American daily on the presence of 1,100 American soldiers and 1,500 French soldiers, fighting against jihadists in anti-terrorist operations with the local army. Zeine explains that it will come “the time to see” the partnership with the United States, while welcoming the “extremely reasonable position” of the administration of Joe Biden, which advocates the diplomatic rather than the military way to restore democratic power .
Accusation of condescension
As for Paris, the New York Times writes that it accuses some French officials of condescension but wants the former colonial power to stay in Niger. “We were trained in French universities, our officers were trained in France. We just want to be respected,” he argues.
And faced with fears of a rapprochement with Moscow and Wagner, Prime Minister Zeine “saw no intention” in this direction on the part of the military leaders of his country. According to him, the Nigerien military will not collaborate with Russia, nor with the mercenaries of this paramilitary group. Before warning: “Do not push Nigeriens towards partners you do not want to see here. »
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