The military command of Niger announced on Thursday that it supported the coup that was started on Wednesday by members of the presidential guard, stating that maintaining national stability was its top concern.
According to a press release from the army chief of staff, the army needed to “preserve the physical integrity” of the president and his family and prevent “a deadly confrontation that could create a bloodbath and affect the security of the population.”
As western sources said the status of the coup attempt was unknown, President Mohamed Bazoum and Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou earlier encouraged democratic forces in the country to rebuff the effort at a takeover.
The soldiers said in a latenight televised address that Bazoum had been removed from office and the republic’s institutions suspended, indicating the seventh coup in West and Central Africa since 2020.
They earlier cut off the presidential palace in the capital Niamey, with the president inside.
Bazoum pledged to defend “hard-won” democratic advancements in a nation that serves as a key partner for Western forces fighting an insurgency in the Sahel area in a social media post on Thursday morning.
According to a post on X, the website that replaced Twitter, Massoudou also urged “democrats and patriots” to prevent the “attempted coup” from succeeding.
It was reported that there was no proof on the ground that the military forces backed the coup attempt, despite Massoudou’s claim that not all of the army was participating in it.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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