Niger's Presidential Guard revolts against President Mohammed Bazoum
The Presidential Guard carried out a rebellious movement against the Presidency of Niger and blocked access to the Presidential Palace in Niamey, according to various reports. International news agencies, including Reuters, reported that Niger's Presidential Guard soldiers surrounded the presidential palace in the capital.
The residence of the Nigerian president, Mohammed Bazoum, located in the centre of Niamey, was isolated to prevent access to it from early in the morning and all officials were returned to their homes after the action of the Presidential Guard, as reported by the EFE news agency.
At first there was talk of a coup d'état, but the situation was not clear, since President Mohammed Bazoum, who was scheduled to meet with Niger's government ministers, is in principle well, according to the latest information.
The Presidency of Niger itself urged the Presidential Guard to "return to reason" and through the social network Twitter the body indicated that President Bazoum and his family "are well", although with a lack of information on the whereabouts of the Nigerien leader.
The official statement said that elements of the Presidential Guard staged an "anti-republican" action on Wednesday and urged them to "return to reason" if they do not want to confront the army and the National Guard, who are ready to "attack" those involved. "The Army and the National Guard are ready to confront the elements of the Presidential Guard involved in this stirring movement, should they not come to their senses," the official statement said. "In the early hours of Wednesday morning, elements of the Presidential Guard tried, in vain, to enlist the support of the army and the National Guard," the official statement explained.
This blockade of the Presidential Palace came a day after President Bazoum chaired the National Security Council in Niamey. Meanwhile, the situation in Niger remains unstable due to the country's long-standing political upheaval, which has been subject to several ups and downs and coups d'état throughout its history.
There have been several coups since the former French colony gained independence in 1960. The first took place in April 1974 against President Diori Hamani, and a more recent coup in February 2010 overthrew President Mamadou Tandja. In addition, there have been numerous other coup attempts.
Most recently, on 31 March 2021, the Nigerian government announced the arrest of several people following an alleged coup attempt, two days before the inauguration of President Mohammed Bazoum. The election victory of Bazoum, seen as a continuation of the political system of outgoing President Mahamadou Issoufu, came amid violent protests by supporters of Mahaman Ousmane, a former president who rejected the election results and proclaimed himself the winner of the election. The alleged leader of this rebellion, Sani Gourouza, an air force captain, was arrested in neighbouring Benin and handed over to the Nigerian authorities. In addition, last April, Ousmane Cissé, Niger's former Interior Minister during the military transition (2010-2011), was imprisoned for his alleged involvement in the failed coup. According to a Nigerien official, the arrest "was also linked to a last coup d'état foiled in March 2022, when President Bazoum was in Turkey", although the authorities did not publicly comment on this coup attempt.
Also in January 2018, nine soldiers and a civilian were sentenced by a Nigerian military court to prison terms ranging from five to 15 years for attempting to overthrow former President Mahamadou Issoufou, Mohammed Bazoum's predecessor, in 2015. Among the convicted military officers is General Souleymane Salou, former chief of staff and former member of the junta that overthrew President Mamadou Tandja.
Recent developments point to an attempted coup d'état in Niger. In addition, some sources have also pointed to the presence of troops from the Wagner Group, a private Russian military company, in the troubled Niger.
In the Sahel, the region to which Niger belongs, there are currently many very violent extremist organisations that threaten regional security, according to experts such as Rear Admiral Milton Sands III, head of the US Special Operations Command for Africa, who pointed out in The Guardian that this is something "made even worse by the presence of the Wagner Group, which makes the countries less stable and less secure". The Wagner military company has been particularly active in Africa since 2021 due to Russia's strong interests in the African continent in order to obtain military and economic allies in a complex current situation marked by Russia's invasion of Ukrainian territory and the international isolation to which the country presided over by Vladimir Putin is subjected due to its aggression towards neighbouring Ukraine.