The guards blocked access to President Bazoum’s residence and the presidential offices in Niamey, although there were no abnormal military deployments or gunfire sounds in the area, and traffic was normal, according to an AFP journalist and a BBC Hausa reporter, on Wednesday 26 July 2023.
In a tweet, the Presidency of Niger announces “an anti-republican mood movement” of elements of the presidential guard who have failed to rally to their cause the National Armed Forces and the National Guard, according to the Presidency.
In another tweet, the Presidency of Niger said that President Moghamed Bazoum and his family “are doing well” and that “The Army and National Guard are ready to attack the elements of the GP involved in this mood movement if they do not return to better feelings”
This landlocked state of West Africa is one of the nations most prone to coups d’état in the world, with four coups d’état since its independence from France in 1960, as well as numerous attempted coups.
The last coup took place in February 2010, overthrowing then-president Mamadou Tandja.
President Bazoum, democratically elected in 2021, is a close ally of France.
It is still unclear whether this is a coup attempt, but it is certainly a worrying sign of greater instability in Niger.
The country has become a key ally for several Western nations trying to curb the spread of Islamist activism in the region.
France and the United States have close military ties with Niger, which has experienced frequent attacks by jihadists from neighbouring Mali and Nigeria.
