The military regime that emerged from the July coup in Niger claimed that deposed president Mohamed Bazoum had unsuccessfully attempted to “escape” to Nigeria. Several people were arrested and an investigation was opened.
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The deposed president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, imprisoned since the coup d’état at the end of July, tried to “escape” without success, the military regime declared on October 19, adding that several people had been detained.
On Thursday, “around 3:00 in the morning, the deposed president Mohamed Bazoum, accompanied by his family, his two cooks and two security personnel, tried to escape from his place of detention,” the spokesman for the regime, Major Colonel Amadou Abdramane.
He added that the attempt had “failed” and that “the main perpetrators and some of their accomplices” had been arrested. An investigation has also been opened.
“Helicopters belonging to a foreign power”
According to Amadou Abdramane, Mohamed Bazoum’s escape plan consisted of first taking him “to a hideout on the outskirts of Niamey”, before taking “helicopters belonging to a foreign power”, without specifying which one, bound for Nigeria.
Denouncing the “irresponsible attitude” of Mohamed Bazoum, the soldier did not specify where the deposed president was.
On Thursday, the first French soldiers to leave their bases in Niger – a requirement of the regime, which maintains terrible relations with Paris – arrived by road in N’Djamena, the capital of neighboring Chad.
Leaving Niamey, the convoy left Niger “safely and in coordination with the Nigerien forces,” Colonel Pierre Gaudillière, spokesman for the French General Staff, told AFP on Thursday.
The convoy had “arrived safely in N’Djamena without any particular problems” after ten days of travel. Air rotations from Chad to France will be organized “in the coming days,” the spokesperson added.
Expelled from Niger, the French Army will have to evacuate most of its men and equipment by land to Chad and then probably to Cameroon, before repatriating them to France. The trip will cover more than 3,000 kilometers, crossing hostile areas where jihadist groups operate in some places.
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The Chadian Army has indicated that it will escort the convoys to the Cameroonian border.
N’Djamena hosts the command center for French operations in the Sahel, with about a thousand French troops.
According to Colonel Gaudillière, half of the advanced bases in Ouallam and Ayorou (northwest Niger) have been emptied, in the so-called “three borders” area with Burkina Faso and Mali.
The French presence in the Sahel has not stopped reducing since 2020. The successive coups d’état in Mali, Burkina Faso and finally Niger ended the anti-jihadist Barkhane force, deployed in Mali since 2014, which had up to 5,500 troops deployed in the Sahel. zone.
Barkhane has crystallized anti-French sentiment in a section of African public opinion, increasing the risk of demonstrations along the convoys.
Since the July 26 coup d’état, France has supported the deposed president Mohamed Bazoum and, like many other countries and organizations, has called for his release. But the military regime remains inflexible for the moment.
“Humanitarian airlift
Mohamed Bazoum continues to refuse to resign and remains a prisoner in his residence in the presidential palace, along with his wife Haziza and son Salem.
On September 18, he appealed to the West African courts to request his release and the restoration of constitutional order in Niger.
The country has also been hit by international economic sanctions since the coup and many countries have suspended their budget aid.
On Thursday, the European Union, which has also suspended its aid, announced the creation of a “humanitarian air bridge” to transport “essential medicines and medical supplies” to Niamey.
Four flights will be chartered to transport 58 tons of “essential health supplies” to “reinforce the humanitarian response” in this country, where “stocks of vital products are rapidly depleting.” The first flight has already arrived in the Nigerian capital, according to the EU.
With AFP
This article was adapted from its original in French
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