2023-07-26 19:38:29
In a message posted on Twitter, renamed “X”, then deleted, the presidency of Niger had indicated that “elements of the Presidential Guard (GP) engaged in an anti-Republican mood movement and tried in vain to obtain the support of the National Armed Forces and the National Guard”.
“The army and the national guard are ready to attack the elements of the GP involved in this mood swing if they do not return to better feelings”added the presidency, stating that “the President of the Republic and his family are doing well”. Soldiers, fingers on the trigger, standing or sitting in pick-ups equipped with machine guns, were visible in front of the headquarters of the public television in Niamey and in the streets leading to it, without however obstructing traffic, noted a journalist from the AFP.
On the other hand, no particular military device was visible in the district of the presidency, traffic was normal there and no shots were heard. In the early hours of the morning, access to the presidency had been blocked due to the movement of members of the GP.
“This is a mood swing by the presidential guard, but talks are underway with the president” Mohamed Bazoum, had then indicated a source close to the presidency before announcing that they had failed. Initially, no information filtered through on the content of these “talks”.
Aborted putschs in 2021 and 2022
“I have spoken to the president and minister friends, they are fine”, said a deputy of the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (PNDS, in power), Kalla Moutari. Niger, a privileged partner country of France in the Sahel plagued by jihadist violence in several parts of its territory, is led by the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, in power since April 2021. The history of this vast, poor country and desert is punctuated by coups d’etat.
Since the independence of this former French colony in 1960, there have been four: the first in April 1974 against President Diori Hamani, the last in February 2010 which overthrew President Mamadou Tandja. Not to mention the numerous putsch attempts.
On March 31, 2021, the Nigerien government announced the arrest of several people after an alleged coup attempt, two days before President Mohamed Bazoum was sworn in. The alleged “mastermind” of this coup attempt, Sani Gourouza, an air force captain, had been arrested in neighboring Benin and handed over to the Nigerien authorities.
In April 2022, Ousmane Cissé, former Nigerien Minister of the Interior of a military transition regime (2010-2011) was imprisoned for his alleged involvement in this failed putsch. An arrest “also in connection with a last foiled coup in March 2022, while President Bazoum was in Turkey”according to a Nigerian official, but the authorities had not communicated publicly on this second failed putsch.
In February, Mr. Cissé was released for lack of evidence, but five of the soldiers presented as the main leaders of the 2021 putsch attempt were sentenced to 20 years in prison, including Sani Gourouza.
In January 2018, nine soldiers and a civilian were sentenced by a Niger military court to five to fifteen years in prison for trying to overthrow ex-president Mahamadou Issoufou, the predecessor of Mohamed Bazoum, in 2015. Among the soldiers sentenced was General Souleymane Salou, former chief of staff and ex-member of the junta that overthrew President Mamadou Tandja.
AFP
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