The Niger junta raised the stakes in its brinkmanship against important neighbours in West Africa who have sworn to restore constitutional order in the coup-torn nation on Sunday by claiming it had acquired evidence to prosecute the country’s former President Mohamed Bazoum for “high treason.”
The statement was made by the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), the military council that overthrew the government in July. “The Nigerien government has to date, gathered the necessary evidence to prosecute the deposed president and his local and foreign accomplices before the competent national and international authorities for high treason and undermining internal and external security of Niger,” the statement read.
Since late last month, when Bazoum was overthrown in a coup d’état by the presidential guard, Niger has been plunged in political upheaval. A volatile region of Africa plagued by coups and militant fanaticism was once again in the dark after the coup in July.
One of the few democracies still in existence in the Sahel was Niger, which is located at its centre.
Following Niger’s independence from France in 1960, there were years of military coups, which came to a stop with Bazoum’s election victory in 2021.
Following the coup, the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) imposed sanctions and gave the military junta a week to resign or face possible military intervention.
However, the military junta in Niger has received support from Mali, Burkina Faso, and Guinea, three additional West African countries that have all recently undergone military coups, raising the possibility that the conflict could escalate into a crisis for the entire region.
Bazoum has said that the junta has denied him “all human contact” and hasn’t given him food or medicine.
The CNSP refuted the claims in a statement, claiming that the expelled leader frequently consults his doctor, with the most recent visit occurring on Saturday.
The statement said that the doctor raised no concerns regarding Bazoum’s health.
West African leaders have intensified their criticism of the coup organisers in Niger and commanded the “activation and deployment” of a regional standby army to help the nation return to constitutional order.
A source told CNN on Sunday that the regional political and economic union known as ECOWAS announced the formation of a parliamentary committee that it intends to dispatch to Niger to meet with coup leaders.
The insider also stated that on Monday, committee members will initially communicate through Zoom before meeting with coup leaders, but she did not specify when this would occur. The source further stated that the parliamentary committee had 12 members and was presided over by Ahmed Idris Wase, the first deputy speaker of the ECOWAS parliament from Nigeria.
ECOWAS previously gave coup leaders until August 6 to release and restore Bazoum as president and hand over authority, failing which they would be subject to potential military intervention.
According to ECOWAS, a separate effort to meet with the Nigerien military junta on Tuesday with the African Union and the United Nations “was aborted” when the military leadership in Niamey informed them of “their unavailability to receive the tripartite delegation.”
In the meantime, in the capital city of Guinea, Conakry, self-proclaimed Niger defence chief Gen. Moussa Salaou Barmou met with Mamadi Doumbouya, the head of the junta and interim president of Guinea. In 2021, Guinea too saw a military takeover.
At the meeting on Saturday, Doumbouya declared, “We are pan-African, and we will always be there.”
Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, the newly appointed military chief of Niger, has also appealed to Mali for assistance despite Mali’s significantly diminished military might.