Coup makers have warned against foreign attempts to extract detained President Bazoum, saying it would result in bloodshed and chaos.
The coup leaders who seized power last week in Niger have said the toppled government had authorised France to carry out an attack on the presidential palace to try to free President Mohamed Bazoum.
The comments were made on Monday by Colonel Amadou Abdramane, one of the coup plotters, on state television. He said the authorisation was signed by Foreign Minister Hassoumi Massoudou, acting as prime minister.
The whereabouts of Massoudou and Bazoum remain unknown.
France, Niger’s former colonial ruler, has condemned the coup and urged Bazoum to be reinstated but has not announced any intention to intervene militarily.
The presidential guard, which seized power last week after blocking Bazoum inside the palace in the capital, Niamey, has previously warned against foreign attempts to extract the president, saying it would result in bloodshed and chaos.
Abdramane’s comments also come a day after the 15-nation regional bloc Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded that Bazoum be reinstated within a week at an emergency summit in neighbouring Nigeria.
The bloc said it would take “all measures” to restore constitutional order otherwise.
“Such measures may include the use of force for this effect,” it said in a statement.
Chadian President Mahamt Idriss Deby visited Niamey on Sunday as an ECOWAS envoy and posted photos of separate meetings with Tchiani and Bazoum.
Landlocked Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, has had a turbulent political history since gaining independence in 1960. Before Wednesday, there had been four coups and numerous other attempts, including two previously against Bazoum.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
Richard Koomson| mediacentralonline.info |Ghana
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