By Ayo Yusuf
Niger Republic’s military rulers said they managed to foil an escape attempt by former President Mohamed Bazoum who had been in custody since his ouster in July.
According to the junta, “around three in the morning, the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and his family, his two cooks, and two security elements tried to escape from his place of detention.”
The regime’s spokesman Amadou Abdramane said on state television that the escape bid had failed, and “the main actors and some of the accomplices” have been arrested.
The spokesman also added in the broadcast late Thursday that an investigation has also been launched.
Abdramane claimed the escape plan involved former President Bazoum at first getting to a hideout on the outskirts of the capital, Niamey.
They had then planned to fly out on helicopters “belonging to a foreign power” towards Nigeria, he added, denouncing Bazoum’s “irresponsible attitude.”
Since he was toppled by the military on July 26, President Bazoum has refused to resign. Until now, he had been held at his residence in the heart of the presidential palace, along with his wife Haziza and son Salem.
Abdramane did not say where they were being held now.
In September, ousted President Bazoum’s lawyers said he filed a legal case with the Economic Community of West African States court against those who deposed him.
They also said they were taking his case to the UN Human Rights Council.
The army officers who overthrew Bazoum cited as justification the deteriorating security situation in the country because of jihadist attacks.
Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies: a spillover in its southeast from a long-running conflict in neighbouring Nigeria; and an offensive in the west by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.
At the start of the month, Niger held three days of national mourning after 29 soldiers were killed in a suspected jihadist attack, the deadliest since the military took power in July.
On Thursday, the first group of French soldiers, ordered out of Niger by its post-coup military rulers, arrived by road in N’Djamena, the capital of neighbouring Chad.
The convoy “has arrived without any particular problems” in N’Djamena after 10 days on the road and in coordination with Nigerien forces, army spokesman Pierre Gaudilliere told reporters.
The troops will depart by air from Chad to France, with the pullout expected to be completed by the end of December.
Roughly 1,400 soldiers were based in the capital Niamey and western Niger to battle fighters linked to the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda, bringing with them fighter jets, drones, helicopters, and armoured vehicles, as well as the equipment to support them.
France has supported ousted President Bazoum since the coup and is calling for his release, as are several other countries and organisations but the military regime remains inflexible for now.
