NIGER | Niger military to prosecute Mohamed Bazoum for ‘high treason’

NIAMEY, Niger, August 14, 2023 - Niger’s military says it will prosecute deposed President Mohamed Bazoum for treason, despite indicating that they are open to diplomacy to resolve their standoff with West Africa’s regional bloc.

In a statement on national television late on Sunday, a spokesman for Niger’s military said Bazoum  is being  charged with “high treason and undermining the internal and external security” of the country.

Bazoum, 63, and his family have been held at the president’s official residence in Niamey since the coup on July 26, with international concern mounting over their conditions in detention.

ECOWAS has called for Bazoum’s reinstatement, imposing severe economic sanctions on Niger and threatening military intervention if civilian rule is not restored.

The West Africa bloc on Monday denounced threats by Niger’s military rulers to prosecute Bazoum.

“It represents yet another form of provocation and contradicts the reported willingness of the military authorities in the Republic of Niger to restore constitutional order through peaceful means,” it said in a statement.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Monday that the putschists' desire to bring charges of high treason against Bazoum is “very worrying,” 

“We remain extremely concerned about the state of being, the health and safety of the president and his family, and again we call for his immediate and unconditional release and his reinstatement as head of state,” Dujarric told reporters.

The West African bloc, which has approved the deployment of a “standby force to restore constitutional order” in Niger, has said it remains committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

The spokesman for Niger’s military, Colonel Major Amadou Abdramane, in his statement on Sunday, dismissed concerns over Bazoum’s health, saying the deposed leader had seen his doctor the previous day.

“After this visit, the doctor raised no problems regarding the state of health of the deposed president and members of his family,” he said.

Abdramane went on to slam ECOWAS sanctions on Niger, saying the “illegal, inhumane and humiliating” measures were making it difficult for people to access medicines, food and electricity.

The military statement came just hours after a group of Nigerian Islamic scholars announced a meeting with Niger’s coup leader Abdourahamane Tchiani in Niamey and said the general had agreed to hold “direct talks” with ECOWAS.

Sheikh Abdullahi Bala Lau, who led the Nigerian delegation, said their mission to Niamey was aimed at creating an “avenue whereby the leaders of the junta coup in Niger will have a dialogue with the ECOWAS leaders to understand each other”.

During their meeting, Tchiani “agreed to have fully direct discussions with the leaders of ECOWAS”, he said.

The Muslim scholars visited Niamey with the blessing of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who also heads ECOWAS. Tinubu has adopted a firm stance against the coup, the sixth to hit an ECOWAS member state since 2020.

The bloc has severed financial transactions and electricity supplies as well as closed borders with landlocked Niger, blocking much-needed imports to one of the world’s poorest countries.

The prospect of a military intervention to reinstate Bazoum has divided ECOWAS members and drawn warnings from foreign powers including Russia and Algeria.

An emergency meeting of West African nations on the coup in Niger has been postponed. Members ECOWAS were due to meet in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, on Saturday to discuss how to tackle the Niger crisis after they approved the deployment of a stand-by force to restore constitutional order.

But the meeting was indefinitely suspended for “technical reasons”. Sources said the meeting was initially set to inform the organisation’s leaders about “the best options” for activating and deploying a military force.

“The military option seriously envisaged by ECOWAS is not a war against Niger and its people but a police operation against hostage-takers and their accomplices,” Niger’s Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massaoudou said.

Sources say the meeting was canceled by Ghanaian߇찟筠President Nana Akufo-Addo as a result of the Ashanti kingdom's King Otumfuo Osei Tutu II's objection and rejection.

"It will not be in Ghana that you will decide to go to war against the Hausa... who are our cousins... War has  no culture in the history of the Ashanti kingdom!" Says Ashanti King, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II,

Niger’s neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, also ruled by military governments which seized power in coups, have said intervention would be tantamount to a declaration of war on them.

On Saturday, Tchiani sent a delegation, led by his defence chief General Moussa Salaou Barmou, to the Guinean capital, Conakry, to thank leaders there for their support – a sign of the coup leaders’ desire to affirm alliances as they stand up to regional and other powers.

“We are Pan-African. When our people have problems, we are always present and we will always be there,” Guinea’s interim President Mamady Doumbouya said at the meeting, according to a video shared late on Saturday night by the presidency.

The coup in Niger is seen as a major blow to many Western nations, which viewed Niamey as a partner in the Sahel region that they could work with to beat back a growing uprising by groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

Protesters opposing the West African bloc gathered near a French military base on the outskirts of the capital Niamey shouting, “Down with France, down with ECOWAS”.

Many protesters brandished Russian and Niger flags and shouted their support for  General Abdourahamane Tchiani.

France is the former colonial power of, and has maintained strong ties with, Niger with between 1,000 and 1,500 French soldiers stationed in the country as part of a force battling an eight-year rebellion.

But the coup leaders have revoked five military cooperation agreements and suspended broadcasts of French international news outlets France 24 and RFI.

The United States and France have more than 2,500 military personnel in the region and, with other European countries, have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in military assistance and training of Niger’s forces.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies