(Politics): Niger soldiers Announce Coup Removing President Mohamed Bazoum from Power

Niger soldiers went on television early Thursday morning, July 27, 2023, to say they had removed President Mohamed Bazoum from power. This came several hours after the presidential guard had barricaded the pro-western leader in his residence.

Colonel Amadou Abdramane, dressed in military fatigues and surrounded by nine other officers, said defence and security forces had decided to “put an end to the regime due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance”.

Abdramane said on television that the army had suspended the constitution, shut the international airport and declared a curfew. And the former president Bazoum is safe.

He warned foreign powers not to intervene after a succession of statements from regional and international leaders condemning the moves against Bazoum and calling for the preservation of democracy.

If the coup is successful it would be the latest in a succession of military coups in a region that has turned against France and the west.

Bazoum was an important western ally in the fight against a spreading jihadist insurgency in the Sahel region and had also co-operated with the EU in reducing the flow of people who use Niger as a transit country on their journey towards Europe.

Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, is a huge landlocked state in the Sahel, a semi-desert region beneath the Sahara.

It was not clear whether the coup leaders had the support of all the armed forces. Earlier on Wednesday, the army had said it stood by the president and by “legality” and was ready to fight the presidential guard if it did not release the president.

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