Niger’s coup leaders have formed a new government, according to the country’s new strongman, General Abdourahamane Tiani, who read out a statement on national television on Wednesday night.

The 21-member government, announced just before an emergency summit of Niger’s West African neighbours in Abuja on Thursday, is headed by Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine and includes 20 ministers, including the defence and interior ministers.

The United Nations chief on Wednesday expressed grave concern over what he called the “deplorable” conditions of Niger leader Mohamed Bazoum’s detainment and called for his release.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres denounced “the deplorable living conditions that President Bazoum and his family are reported to be living under”, according to a UN statement.

CNN reported Wednesday that Bazoum was being kept isolated and forced to eat dry rice and pasta by the rebels who overthrew him in a coup late last month.

In a series of text messages Bazoum sent to a friend, the president said he had been “deprived of all human contact since Friday”, with no one supplying him food or medicine, the network reported.

Source: France 24

Despite mounting international pressure for the Niger’s ruling junta to step down its decision to name a new prime minister is an indication that the military is already holding on to leadership in the West African country.

“They are cementing their grip on power… they are trying to send a message that they are creating a government around them[sevles].”

Niger informed ECOWAS that it cannot host a delegation from the West African regional bloc, citing reasons of security due to what it characterised as widespread anger among the Nigerien population following sanctions imposed by the bloc.

“The current context of anger and revolt among the population following the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS makes it impossible to welcome this delegation in the required serenity and security,” Niger’s foreign affairs ministry wrote in a letter addressed to the ECOWAS representation in Niamey.

Culled from France 24

France is suspending development aid and budgetary assistance to Burkina Faso, its foreign ministry announced Sunday.

The statement comes days after Burkina Faso and Mali announced that they would consider any military intervention against the new military rulers in Niger as a “declaration of war”.

The West African bloc ECOWAS last Sunday issued Niger’s new rulers with an ultimatum to hand back power to the democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum within the week or face possible military intervention.

France’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that it “firmly and resolutely” backed efforts by ECOWAS to reinstate Bazoum.

Source: AFP

General Abdourahamane Tchiani is the new leader of Niger following a military takeover, state television reported Friday, two days after the country’s president was detained by members of his own guard.

Tchiani, the head of the Presidential Guard, has been named “president of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland,” a statement said.

Appearing on state television, the general said soldiers had seized power to the deteriorating security situation in the Sahel country.

The country’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, has been detained by the putschists since Wednesday morning.

Earlier on Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron described the coup as “dangerous” for the region as Western powers scramble to preserve a key ally in the insurgent-stricken Sahel.

“This coup is completely illegitimate and profoundly dangerous, for Nigeriens, for Niger and for the whole region,” Macron said.

Macron said he had spoken to Bazoum, who is being held in his palace, and called for him to be reinstated.

Niger’s government had been seen by many in the international community as a bulwark against Islamist militancy in a vast, arid region that is beset by security challenges.

‘Last bastion of democracy in the Sahel’: Uncertainty in Niger prompts concern among allies

French and UN troops were in recent years forced to withdraw from neighbouring Mali, but Paris still has 1,500 soldiers in Niger. Bazoum’s overthrow could put the future of their deployment in doubt.

Macron, speaking during a visit to Papua New Guinea, said it was imperative that the constitutional order be restored and vowed to support regional groupings like ECOWAS in mediation or sanctions against putschists.

Source: Reuters

Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum has taken to social media to say that democracy will be “safeguarded” across the country, a day after he was seized by members of the presidential guard in a military coup attempt.

Bazoum, who was reportedly detained by some disgruntled members of the Elite Presidential Guard, vowed on Thursday to safeguard the hard-earned democracy in the West African country located in the turbulent Sahel region.

In a Thursday post on the social media platform Twitter, which is being rebranded as X, Bazoum said, “hard-won gains will be safeguarded” and that Nigeriens who love democracy will see it.

Bazoum’s statements came hours after men dressed in military attire claimed to have overthrown his government, dissolving the constitution, and closing the borders.

His remarks were echoed by Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou, who confirmed that the president was in good health.

Massoudou said he had spoken to the president and he is “in good health”, and has not been harmed by the military.

He asserted that the elected government remained the “legitimate and legal authority” of the country, insisting that, “The legal and legitimate power is the one exercised by the elected president of Niger Mohamed Bazoum.”

The top diplomat described the actions of the group of soldiers at the presidential palace as “an attempted coup d’etat” but said, “the totality of the army was not behind the coup.”

He called on “mutinous officers to return to their ranks” in an interview with French television station France 24, adding that mediation efforts had started, including those by the president of Nigeria who is “dialoguing with the military”.

Meanwhile, the attempted power grab drew strong condemnation from the United Nations and several governments.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he “strongly condemns the unconstitutional change in government” in Niger.

The foreign minister of Niger’s former colonial power France, Catherine Colonna, condemned the coup attempt, claiming Paris was opposed to “all attempts to take power by force”.

Germany’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Berlin was following the events in Niger with “very great concern”.

“Violence is not a means to enforce political or personal interests,” said the ministry in a statement, which also called for Bazoum’s immediate release by the organizers of the coup.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had spoken to Bazoum to offer Washington’s support.

The president of neighboring Benin, Patrice Talon, will head to Niamey for mediation efforts, the head of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said.

In the meantime, the coupsters said “all institutions” in the country would be suspended, borders were closed and a curfew imposed “until further notice” from 10 pm to 5 am.

“We, the defense and security forces… have decided to put an end to the regime” of President Bazoum, Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane said in a televised address late Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, Niger’s presidency said that members of the presidential guard (PG) had started an “anti-republican” movement “in vain”.

The president’s office said, “Elements of the Presidential Guard (PG) had a fit of temper… (and) tried unsuccessfully to gain the support of the national armed forces and the national guard”.

It said the army and national guard were ready to attack the PG elements if they did not take a new disposition.

Bazoum was elected in April 2021, taking the helm of the impoverished country. He is one of a dwindling number of pro-Western leaders in the Sahel region, fighting against the extremists’ insurgency.

Source: Presstv

Soldiers claimed to have overthrown Niger’s government on Thursday after members of the Presidential Guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum.

Disgruntled members of the elite Presidential Guard sealed off access to the president’s residence and offices in the capital Niamey on Wednesday, and after talks broke down “refused to release the president”, a presidential source said.

“We, the defence and security forces … have decided to put an end to the regime” of President Bazoum, said Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane in a televised address, surrounded by nine other uniformed soldiers.

They said “all institutions” in the country would be suspended, borders were closed, and a curfew had been imposed “until further notice”.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union both decried what they called an “attempted coup d’état”.

A source close to Bazoum used the same term, saying the bid was “doomed to fail”.

The head of ECOWAS said Benin President Patrice Talon was heading to Niger in a mediation bid, after the latest bout of turbulence to hit the region.

President Talon was expected to arrive in Niamey Thursday to speak with both sides to resolve the crisis, after a meeting in Abuja Wednesday with Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The Nigerian leader said President Talon would mediate with both the Presidential Guard and Bazoum with a view to finding an agreement.

One of a dwindling group of pro-Western leaders in the Sahel, Bazoum was elected in 2021, taking the helm of a country burdened by a poverty and a history of chronic instability.

In a message on Twitter, the president’s office said “elements of the Presidential Guard (PG) had a fit of temper… (and) tried unsuccessfully to gain the support of the national armed forces and the national guard”.

“The army and national guard are ready to attack the elements of the PG who are involved in this fit of temper if they do not return to a better disposition,” the presidency said.

Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou on Thursday told FRANCE 24 the elected government was the “legitimate and legal authority” in the country.

“The legal and legitimate power is the one exercised by the elected president of Niger Mohamed Bazoum,” being held by the Presidential Guard members, Massoudou said, adding that the detained leader was “in good health”.

‘Madness’

UN chief Antonio Guterres was able to talk to Bazoum on Wednesday afternoon, his spokesman said, and “expressed his full support and solidarity”.

The United States has demanded Bazoum’s release, saying it was “deeply concerned”.

Hours after his detention, Bazoum’s supporters tried to approach the complex where he was being held, but were dispersed by members of the Presidential Guard who fired warning shots, an AFP reporter saw.

One person was hurt, but it was not immediately clear if he was injured by a bullet or from falling as the crowd scattered.

The parties of Niger’s ruling coalition in Niamey denounced “a suicidal and anti-republican madness” in a statement, saying that “certain elements of the presidential guard sequestered the President” and his family, as well as the interior minister.

ECOWAS called for Bazoum’s immediate and unconditional release, and warned all those involved would be held responsible for his safety.

The European Union said it “associates itself” with the ECOWAS statement and attacked “any attempt to destabilise democracy and threaten the stability” of Niger.

France – Niger’s former colonial power – and neighbouring Algeria also issued condemnations, as did the World Bank which said it “strongly condemns any attempt to seize power by force” or “destabilise” Niger.

Instability

The landlocked Sahel state has experienced four coups since independence from France in 1960, and numerous other attempts.

Bazoum, a former interior minister, was right-hand man to former president Mahamadou Issoufou, who voluntarily stepped down after two terms.

Their handover in April 2021, after elections won by Bazoum in a two-round contest against former president Mahamane Ousmane, marked Niger’s first peaceful transition of power since independence.

But reminders of the troubled past have never been far away.

An attempted coup took place just days before Bazoum’s inauguration, according to a security source at the time.

Several people were arrested, including the suspected ringleader, an air force captain named Sani Gourouza, and former interior minister Ousmane Cisse.

Five people, including Gourouza, were jailed in February for 20 years while Cisse was acquitted.

A second bid to oust Bazoum occurred last March “while the president … was in Turkey”, according to a Niger official, who said an arrest was made. The authorities have never commented publicly on the incident.

Poverty and jihadism

Niger is two-thirds desert and ranks close to the bottom of the UN’s Human Development Index, a benchmark of prosperity.

It has a surging population of 22.4 million, driven by a birth rate averaging seven children per woman.

Niger is struggling with two jihadist campaigns – one in the southwest, which swept in from Mali in 2015, and the other in the southeast, involving jihadists from northeastern Nigeria.

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes, stoking a humanitarian crisis and further straining the economy.

The poorly equipped military is receiving training and logistical support from the United States and France, which have bases in the country.

Niger last year became the hub of France’s anti-jihadist Sahel operations.

The mission was reconfigured after French forces quit Mali and Burkina Faso after falling out with the ruling juntas in those countries.

Source: AFP

Gabon’s leader Ali Bongo Ondimba will face 18 other candidates in next month’s presidential election, authorities announced Monday.

Bongo is favourite to win a third term at the head of the oil-rich West African state ruled by his family for 55 years.

The 64-year-old, who took over from his father, Omar Bongo Ondimba in 2009, officially announced in July that he would run again.

His leading rivals include Alexandre Barro Chambrier of the opposition Rally for the Fatherland and Modernity (RPM) party and the National Union’s head Paulette Missambo.

The opposition failed to agree on a single candidate to challenge Bongo in the August 26 poll, but candidates are former ministers and part of the Alternance 2023 coalition.

Bongo’s powerful Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) holds strong majorities in both houses of parliament.

The president was narrowly re-elected in 2016, with just 5,500 more votes than rival Jean Ping who claimed the election had been fixed.

Announcement of the results sparked violence in the capital Libreville that left five dead, according to the government. The opposition says 30 people were shot dead by the security forces.

Bongo suffered a stroke in 2018 and spent months on the sidelines recovering, leaving the opposition to question his fitness to run the nation.

In April, the Gabonese parliament voted to amend the constitution and reduce the president’s term from seven to five years.

The presidential ballot will coincide with elections for the National Assembly and regional and local councils.

Gabon is one of the richest countries in Africa in terms of per capita GDP due largely to its oil revenue and relatively small population of 2.3 million.

A third of the population live below the poverty threshold, according to the World Bank.

Source: AFP

The streets of Sierra Leone’s capital were quiet on Wednesday, a day after President Julius Maada Bio was sworn in for a second term following an election his main rival slammed as “not credible.”

Many people in central Freetown said they were relieved at the peaceful atmosphere as they went about their business at the start of Muslim festival of Eid, a public holiday.

Some women were selling food at market and commercial drivers of motorcycles and tuk-tuks were out in rain-soaked streets scouting for customers.

“I’m happy, not even because of the result, but I’m happy with the way everything came and went, because our expectations were really high that it was going to be like a catastrophe”, said Amanda, 40, a hotel employee who did not want to give her last name.

“(…) We can have the votes but if we don’t have the peace it doesn’t make a difference.”

“Everyone is cool, everyone is doing well, everyone is happy. Everyone is going on with its normal business,” said Abu Kailesie, a 24-year-old student and Bio supporter. “We are OK.”

But Alpha Kaloko, a 20-year-old bike rider, said, “I’m not happy about these results, because I think this election is not right. It’s not fair… We need changes.”

Bio, 59, who leads the Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP), was sworn in at State House on Tuesday immediately after the Electoral Commission announced he had narrowly won outright victory in the first round of voting, with 56.17 percent of the ballot.

Presidential candidates need 55 percent of the vote in the first round to avoid a run-off.

Since the end of Sierra Leone’s 1991-2002 civil war, no incumbent has failed to secure a victory in the first round.

Sierra Leone has a two-term presidential limit.

Tense rematch

The vote on Saturday was a rematch of a 2018 race that saw Bio, a former coup leader who campaigned on progressive policies, edge out Samura Kamara of the All People’s Congress (APC).

But he took the helm just before the West African state was pummelled by the Covid-19 pandemic, followed by crippling levels of inflation.

EU observers denounced violence by security forces at the APC headquarters in Freetown on Sunday night, in what the police said was an effort to disperse opposition supporters, which left one woman dead.

Kamara, an ex-minister and economist, does not appear to have conceded defeat.

“I categorically reject the outcome so announced by the electoral commission,” the candidate — who won 41.16 percent of the vote, according to the Electoral Commission — said on Twitter on Tuesday evening.

He has not given a speech since the results were announced. But shortly before the announcement of results, he denounced a “total lack of transparency and accountability” by the election overseer.

National Election Watch, a coalition of civil society organisations, issued a statement late Tuesday pointing to alleged irregularities in the electoral commission’s data.

It said that, based on its own calculations, turnout was between 75.4 and 79 percent, not 83 percent as the electoral commission announced.

It also said that Bio should have received between 47.7 and 53.1 percent of the vote, while Kamara should have received between 43.8 and 49.2 percent.

Cameron Hume, a former US ambassador who headed an observation mission by the Carter Center, told AFP on Wednesday that there had been some flaws in the process.

“The voting seemed to take place in a credible manner,” Hume said.

“But when it came to the delivery of ballots and the opening of ballot boxes at tabulation centres, there were numerous incidents where we saw a break in the chain of credibility.”

Source: AFP

President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said the era of French interference in Africa was “well over” as he began a four-nation tour of the continent to renew frayed ties.

Anti-French sentiment runs high in some former African colonies as the continent becomes a renewed diplomatic battleground, with Russian and Chinese influence growing in the region.

Macron said France harboured no desire to return to past policies of interfering in Africa ahead of an environment summit in Gabon, the first leg of his trip.

“The age of Francafrique is well over,” Macron said in remarks to the French community in the capital Libreville, referring to France’s post-colonisation strategy of supporting authoritarian leaders to defend its interests.

“Sometimes I get the feeling that mindsets haven’t moved along as much as we have, when I read, hear and see people ascribing intentions to France that it doesn’t have.”

“Francafrique” is a favourite target of pan-Africanists, who say that after the wave of decolonisation in 1960 France propped up dictators in its former colonies in exchange for access to resources and military bases.

Macron and his predecessors, notably Francois Hollande, have previously declared that the policy is dead and that France has no intention of meddling in sovereign affairs.

Military revamp

Ahead of his visit, Macron on Monday said there would be a “noticeable reduction” in France’s troop presence in Africa “in the coming months” and a greater focus on training and equipping allied countries’ forces.

France has in the past year withdrawn troops from former colonies Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic.

The pullout from Mali and Burkina Faso, where its soldiers were supporting the Sahel nations battle a long-running jihadist insurgency, came on the back of a wave of local hostility.

In his remarks on Thursday, Macron insisted the planned reorganisation was “neither a withdrawal nor disengagement”, defining it as adapting to the needs of partners.

More than 3,000 French soldiers are deployed in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Djibouti, according to official figures.

Another 3,000 are in the Sahel region of West Africa, including in Niger and Chad.

Forest protection drive

Macron landed in Libreville on Wednesday and will later head to Angola, Congo-Brazzaville and the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

His comments came before several heads of state were due to attend the One Forest Summit in Libreville, which will focus on preserving rainforests that play a vital role in the global climate system.

The forests of the vast Congo River basin represent the planet’s second-largest carbon sink after the Amazon.

They are also home to huge biodiversity including forest elephants and gorillas, and bear traces of the settlement of early humanity.

But they face threats such as poaching, deforestation for the oil, palm and rubber industries, and illegal logging and mineral exploitation.

Macron spoke of the challenges of mobilising international finance as he and Gabonese Environment Minister Lee White toured the Raponda Walker Arboretum, a protected coastal area north of Libreville.

“We always speak of billions in our summits, but people see little of it on the ground because the systems are imperfect,” he said.

His schedule included meeting scientists, NGOs and private sector actors at the presidential palace.

Other presidents expected to attend the summit are host Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon; Denis Sassou Nguesso of Congo-Brazzaville; Faustin Archange Touadera of the Central African Republic; Chad’s Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno; and Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.

The gathering kicked off on Wednesday with exchanges between ministers, civil society representatives and experts.

Macron heads to the former Portuguese colony of Angola on Friday, where he is set to sign an accord to develop the agricultural sector as part of a drive to enhance French ties with anglophone and Portuguese-speaking Africa.

He then stops in the Republic of Congo, another former French colony, where Sassou Nguesso has ruled for a total of almost four decades, and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.

Source: AFP

Two Senegalese opposition MPs were handed six-month jail terms on Monday for physically attacking a female colleague in parliament.

In a case that sparked anguished debate about democracy in Senegal, pro-government legislator Amy Ndiaye was slapped and then kicked in the belly during a chaotic session in the National Assembly.

MPs Mamadou Niang and Massata Samb were each given six-month prison terms after a trial that began on December 19.

They were also each fined 100,000 CFA francs CFA ($150) and ordered to pay five million francs in damages.

Prosecutors had sought two-year terms.

The bust up happened on December 1, during a routine vote on the justice ministry’s budget.

It was sparked by remarks Ndiaye had made about Serigne Moustapha Sy, an influential Muslim leader who supports the opposition but is not a lawmaker.

After order was restored, Ndiaye fainted and was given hospital treatment — her lawyer Baboucar Cisse said she was pregnant and there were fears she could lose her baby.

She has since left hospital but “remains in an extremely difficult situation,” Cisse said.

The incident triggered a fierce debate about parliamentary discourse and attacks on women. It notably coincided with an awareness campaign against domestic violence.

Senegal is widely viewed as a beacon of stability and democracy in West Africa — a region notorious for coups and dictatorships.

Legislative elections in July led to a virtual tie, requiring President Macky Sall’s party to forge a coalition to stay in power.

Sall was elected to a seven-year term in 2012 and re-elected for a five-year tenure in 2019. He has not divulged his plans for the next presidential vote, due in 2024.

Niang and Samb, who were arrested on December 15, were not present in court.

“They are going to remain in prison pending an appeal,” one of their lawyers, Abdy Nar Ndiaye, told AFP.

They denied hitting the legislator, despite video evidence to the contrary.

Their lawyers argued the pair were immune from prosecution, given their status as lawmakers, but this was rejected by the court.

Source: AFP