France’s government has said it does not consider the coup in Niger to be final despite the former French colony’s military leadership throwing its weight behind the removal of the democratically elected president.
“If you hear me talking about an attempted coup, it’s because we don’t consider things final,” said Catherine Colonna, the French foreign minister. “There is still a way out if those responsible listen to the international community.”
Niger’s president, Mohamed Bazoum, has vowed to protect his country’s “hard-won” democratic gains despite his removal on Wednesday when he was taken captive by his own presidential guard and confined to his residence.
Colonna said on Friday that Bazoum was in “good health” and had spoken to France’s president, Emmanuel Macron.
On Thursday the military command declared its support for the coup and said its priority was to avoid destabilising the country.
However, footage from the capital, Niamey, showed people burning cars and looting. Bazoum’s political party headquarters was also set alight.
On Wednesday morning, members of the presidential guard surrounded Bazoum’s house and detained him.
The army’s chief of staff added that it needed to “preserve the physical integrity” of the president and his family and avoid “a deadly confrontation … that could create a bloodbath and affect the security of the population”.
Amid reports suggesting Bazoum was being held by the coup plotters, who announced the suspension of state institutions and the closure of Niger’s borders, the president tweeted: “The hard-won gains will be safeguarded and all Nigeriens who love democracy and freedom will see to it.”
The foreign minister, Hassoumi Massaoudou, also issued a rallying cry on Twitter for “all democrats and patriots” to thwart the coup.
Massaoudou said the “legal and legitimate power” was the one exercised by the elected president, emphasising that while there had been a “coup bid … the whole of the army was not involved”.
He added: “We ask all the fractious soldiers to return to their ranks. Everything can be achieved through dialogue but the institutions of the republic must function.”
Niger is a key ally of France and the US in the war against jihadist groups in the Sahel region. The country’s role has grown since relations with Burkina Faso and Mali’s military governments soured, prompting foreign troop withdrawals.
In May, Bazoum complained that his government had been the target of a disinformation campaign by Russia’s Wagner group, which has been a destabilising influence elsewhere in the region.
On Thursday, several hundred people gathered in the capital and chanted support for Wagner while waving Russian flags. Later, they threw rocks at a passing politician’s car.
Among issues that remain unclear is whether Niger will pivot and engage Wagner as a counter-terrorism partner like its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, which have kicked out French forces.
It was unclear how much of Niger the coup plotters controlled. In a late-night address on national television on Wednesday, soldiers announced that Bazoum had been removed from power and all institutions of the republic suspended, in the seventh coup in west and central Africa since 2020.
The move against Bazoum was widely condemned internationally, including by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, who said he had spoken to Bazoum.
“I conveyed our support for the democratically elected president of Niger. The US condemns efforts to subvert Niger’s constitutional order by force, and underscores that our partnership depends on the continuation of democratic governance,” Blinken tweeted.
The African Union and the west African bloc Ecowas condemned the coup d’etat, while the UN secretary general, António Guterres, urged respect for Niger’s constitution.
Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, said his Beninese counterpart, Patrice Talon, was travelling to Niger on a mediation mission. “He is going there now, he is on his way,” Tinubu, who is also the chair of Ecowas, said after meeting Talon in Abuja.
Several Bazoum supporters had gathered in the city as events were unfolding on Wednesday, voicing their opposition to a change of power, a Reuters reporter said. They were later dispersed, with video footage showing people running away to the sound of gunfire.
The presidential guard, which first moved against Bazoum, is headed by Gen Omar Tchiani, but the televised statement was read by a member of the air force, Col Amadou Abdramane.
Seated in an office rather than a television studio and flanked by nine officers in fatigues, Abdramane said defence and security forces had acted in response to deteriorating security and bad governance.
The landlocked state with a rapidly increasing population is one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world. It has had four coups since gaining independence from France in 1960, as well as numerous attempts, including two previously against Bazoum.
Bazoum, 63, is one of a dwindling group of pro-western leaders in the Sahel, where a rampaging jihadist insurgency has caused coups against elected presidents in Mali and Burkina Faso. Their juntas, taking a nationalist stance, have forced out French troops, and in the case of Mali have woven a close alliance with Russia.
Agencies contributed to this report
