African Union, ECOWAS condemn ‘attempted coup’ in Niger

Issued on: 26/07/2023 – 16:35

2 min

ECOWAS and its member countries are monitoring the situation in Niger and will do everything within their power to protect its democracy, ECOWAS Chairman Bola Tinubu said on Wednesday, amid reports from security sources that members of Niger’s presidential guard had detained President Mohamed Bazoum inside the presidential palace.

“The ECOWAS leadership will not accept any action that impedes the smooth functioning of legitimate authority in Niger or any part of West Africa,” said Tinubu, who is also Nigeria’s president.

“Informed of an attempt by certain members of the military to undermine the stability of democratic & republican institutions in #Niger, tantamount to an attempted coup d’état,” the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, “strongly condemns such actions”, Faki posted on social media.

In a message posted on the X social network formerly known as Twitter, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell said he was “very concerned about current events in Niamey”.

Earlier in the day, the official account of Niger’s presidency posted that “The President of the Republic and his family are well,” adding that the presidential guards (GP) had failed to secure support from the other elements of the security services in this “fit of pique”.  

Bazoum was elected president of Niger in 2021, taking the helm of a country mired in poverty and burdened by a history of chronic instability.

His election was Niger’s first democratic transition of power following four military coups since the country gained independence from France in 1960.

A military unit tried to seize the presidential palace in March 2021 days before Bazoum was due to be sworn in, but the attempted coup was thwarted.

Read moreNiger becomes France’s partner of last resort after Mali withdrawal

A key Western ally

A military takeover in Niger could further complicate Western efforts to help countries in the Sahel region fight a jihadist insurgency that has spread from Mali over the past decade.

Niger has become a pivotal ally for Western powers seeking to help fight the insurgency but facing growing acrimony from the new juntas in charge in Mali and Burkina Faso. It is also a key European Union ally in the fight against irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa.

The United States says it has spent around $500 million since 2012 to help Niger boost its security. Germany announced in April that it would take part in a three-year European military mission aimed at improving the country’s military

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)