* ECOWAS won’t tolerate coup in sub-region, Tinubu warns mutineers
Niger President Mohamed Bazoum is being detained by members of the Presidential Guard, who have been given an “ultimatum” by the army, a source close to Bazoum said on Wednesday.
Disgruntled members of the guard sealed off access to the president’s residence and offices, and after talks broke down, “refused to release the president,” the source said, adding: “The army has given them an ultimatum.”
Niger’s presidency said in a statement on Wednesday that some members of the presidential guard had started an “anti-republican” movement “in vain” and that the army and national guard were ready to attack those involved in the “mood swing” if the movement did not end.
It added that President Mohamed Bazoum and his family were well after security sources said presidential guards were holding Bazoum inside the presidential palace in Niamey, the capital.
The palace had been blocked off by military vehicles on Wednesday morning
Ministries next to the palace were also blocked off, and staff inside the palace unable to access their offices, presidency, and security sources said. But there was calm elsewhere in Niamey.
Bazoum was elected president in a 2021 election that was the first democratic transition of power in a state that has witnessed four military coups since independence from France in 1960.
There have been four military takeovers in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso since 2020.
Those coups were spurred in part by frustrations over authorities’ failure to stem a rebel uprising blighting the Sahel region – which includes Niger – that was once derided as the “coup belt”.
There was also a thwarted coup attempt in Niger in March 2021, when a military unit tried to seize the presidential palace days before Bazoum who had just been elected, was due to be sworn in.
Bola Tinubu, president of neighbouring Nigeria and new chair of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), described Wednesday’s events as “unpleasant developments” and said he was already in “close consultation” with other leaders in the region about the situation, Al-Jazeera reported.
“The ECOWAS leadership will not accept any action that impedes the smooth functioning of legitimate authority in Niger or any part of West Africa … we will do everything within our powers to ensure democracy is firmly planted, nurtured, well rooted and thrives in our region”, he said in a statement.
Niger is a key ally to Western powers seeking to support local troops fighting a conflict which took root in Mali in 2012 and has spread to neighbouring countries including Burkina Faso and the southern coastal states.
France moved troops to the country from Mali last year after its relations with the military government there soured – an emerging pattern in former French colonies in the region.