Soldiers in Niger claim president is ousted in coup

Soldiers in Niger announced Wednesday night that the West African nation’s president had been removed from power, hours after they had barricaded President Mohamed Bazoum in the presidential palace.

Bazoum did not comment following the announcement by soldiers, who said in a brief appearance on TV that the country’s institutions were suspended and its borders closed. Earlier in the day, Bazoum’s official Twitter account had put out a statement saying the president and his family were doing well.

If successful, this would mark the most recent in a string of coups in West and Central Africa in recent years, following those in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Chad and Sudan.

A vast West African nation of 25 million, Niger has been a key Western partner in the fight against violence relating to Islamist insurgencies that have bludgeoned the region in recent years.

Although Mali and Burkina Faso have seen the worst violence, attacks have been rising in Niger in recent years. Led by Bazoum, Niger has also been a key ally for the West as the Wagner Group, a Russian mercenary organization, targets its neighbors, including Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, where more than 1,000 Wagner contractors are based.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a news conference in New Zealand that he was monitoring developments in Niger “very closely.” He said he had spoken with Bazoum earlier in the morning “and made clear that the United States resolutely supports him as the democratically elected president, and we call for his immediate release.”

“We condemn any efforts to seize power by force,” Blinken said. “We’re actively engaged with the Niger government, but also with partners in the region and around the world and will continue to do so until the situation is resolved appropriately and peacefully.”

Bazoum was elected in 2021, in the country’s first peaceful transition of power, following two terms under Mahamadou Issoufou. On Twitter, Blinken underscored that the partnership with Niger “depends on the continuation of democratic governance.” U.S. law prohibits military aid from going to governments that have seized power via coups.

Blinken said that it is for lawyers to determine whether the developments in Niger technically constitute a coup.

“But what it clearly constitutes is an effort to seize power by force and to disrupt the constitution,” he said, adding that he had been in conversation with counterparts in France and other allies about the situation, and that the U.S. Embassy in Niamey, Niger’s capital, was monitoring the safety of U.S. citizens in the country.

Michael Birnbaum in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.