Soldiers in Niger claim to have overthrown President Bazoum

 begin with breaking news from Niger

where a group of soldiers claim to have

overthrown the democratically elected

president Muhammad bazum they've

declared the closure of niger's borders

and imposed a nationwide curfew Vernier

car begins our coverage

detained by the men meant to protect him

Nigeria's presidential guard surrounded

Muhammad bazoom's residence early on

Wednesday

amid the uncertainty supporters of the

president came out to protest

no one knows what's going on we all woke

up this morning and heard that someone

had decided to take the president

hostage and try to make him resign it's

impossible everyone has come out to show

their discontent

soldiers fired in the air sending

protesters running

there was apparent Hope from the

presidency and the West African black

ecowas that a solution could be mediated

hours later in a broadcast on National

Television Military Officers announced

the removal of President Muhammad

bazzoon

we the security Defense Forces gathered

at the National Council for the

Safeguard of the Homeland have decided

to put an end to the regime you know

this follows the continuous

deterioration of the security situation

and poor social and economic management

we affirm our support to all commitments

undertaken by Niger

ecowas the African Union and the United

States have demanded president bazoom's

release I spoke with President bazoom

earlier this morning and made clear that

the United States resolutely supports

him as the democratically elected

President of Niger

we call for his immediate release

we condemn any effort to seize power by

force

frustrations around unrest and armed

rebellions in the Sahel region have been

a driving force for coups there

niger's neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso

have seen four military takeovers since

2020

Western forces especially France and the

United States have since increasingly

relied on Niger as a base of operations

against armed groups in the Sahel

they'll hope to see Niger remain a

democracy along with Muhammad bazoom's

supporters who voted him into power just

two years ago

Freddie acar Al Jazeera

Ahmad Idris says there were several

signs of trouble for Muhammad mazum

since he came to power

by Zoom had his work cut out from him

from day one he was an influential

member of the last Administration he

campaigned vigorously and won the

election in 2021 but again in 2021 the

danger sign started showing Brazil is

coming from a minority Arab tribe in

Nigeria and then taking power away from

an established tribe that dominated the

military the Civil Service and the

business was a very very difficult thing

for people and so there were several

indications that this may not end well

for him and it may not end well for his

government I mean running its full

course and we started seeing this

probably since uh

2021 when Muhammad yusu was still in

power that was the time basil was

elected and he was declared President

and there was opposition against him uh

of people who are thinking that they

will certainly be a coup one way or the

other but he lasted two years actually

so he phrase challenges he inherited the

Boko Haram Insurgency the Washington

situation on the border with Mali and

Burkina Faso so those were critical

issues that Define what the cool leaders

were saying in their statement uh this

evening saying that basil has failed to

reign in the security challenges in

Niger and also the economic challenges

facing the people in that country but

again if you look at Nigeria you

understand that this is a poor country

that has been struggling for decades in

terms of the economy in terms of

security in terms of even feeding the

ordinary person on the street Niger has

faced several environmental challenges

climate challenges and is still facing

them and people are are curious to know

how the military will solve those

problems they are accusing Muslim of

failing to solve

West Africa's main Regional and economic

block ecowas had earlier said that the

president of Benin is heading to Niger

on a mediation Mission the U.N the

African Union and the U.S have called

for the immediate release of president

mazum U.S Secretary of State Anthony

Lincoln spoke a few minutes ago about

the political crisis unfolding Indonesia

we are very closely monitoring the

situation and developments in Niger I

spoke with President bazoom earlier this

morning and made clear that the United

States resolutely supports him as the

democratically elected President of

Niger

we call for his immediate release

we condemn any effort to seize power by

force we're actively engaged with the

Nigeria government but also with

Partners in the region and around the

world will continue to do so until the

situation is resolved appropriately and

peacefully

Mike Hannah reports now from Washington

DC

the White House the state department and

indeed the Pentagon have been closely

monitoring the situation there's deep

concern in the United States about the

situation in Niger it is described as a

critical partner of the United States

now there are some 1 000 U.S forces

stationed in that country some of them

special forces units who've been

training the Nigerian military but

there's also a massive drone base in the

north of the country which is used to

police the movement of militants Ally to

Boko Haram or Al-Qaeda so great concern

within the United States also the

awareness of what happened in nisha's

Neighbors at their military coups in

Mali and Burkina Faso resulted in an

invitation to russian-backed forces to

come into the country this is something

that the U.S would not like to see

Indonesia which is regarded as its last

standing Ally in the region now the

Secretary of State Anthony blinken Held

a telephone conversation with president

bazoom during the course of the day he's

in Wellington New Zealand he says that

he offered his unwavering support to the

Nigerian president however what form the

support will take in the days and weeks

ahead is unclear Mike Hanna Al Jazeera

Washington

West Africa has seen a series of

military takeovers and attempted coups

in recent years in August 2020 the

Malian Army ousted the president

after a wave of anti-government protests

three years later the military is still

in power

in September 2021 the soldiers in

neighboring Guinea overthrew a president

Alpha Conde it followed a disputed

election in which she had been vying for

controversial third term

in Burkina Faso two coups took place in

a matter of months in 2022 Army Captain

ibrahimatore is currently in control

there

and also last year in the guinea bassau

11 people were killed in a failed coup

in February

let's bring in that Cameron Hudson now

he's an analyst on African Peace

security and the governance issues he's

also former director of African Affairs

at the National Security Council at the

White House he joins us from Durham

North Carolina Welcome to the program so

still a developing situation here but

nonetheless how worried will the U.S

Administration be over what's happening

well I think they're going to be very

concerned as you mentioned before

there's over a thousand U.S uh military

personnel in Niger right now conducting

counterterrorism operations as well as

training the Nigerian military we have

two drone bases uh operating there which

which uh surveil the entire Sahel region

but more importantly than that I think

it was the last remaining Democratic

state in the entire region you mentioned

the number of coup d'etats that have uh

taken place in the last few years in

neighboring states we've seen secretary

blinken the very first Secretary of

State ever to travel to Niger did so

only three months ago promised more than

150 million dollars in humanitarian

assistance and political support and so

I think there's a real question that

Washington has to be asking itself right

now if after all of this money and

attention and engagement and assistance

if we cannot keep Niger on a democratic

path then and what are we doing wrong

we've seen recent military upheavals in

in neighboring countries haven't we to

what extent have insurgencies like I saw

in the region fueled a military

discontent

well I think we can't rule out the fact

that you know it was the military that

carried out this coup

um and that they have been on the front

lines of combating uh these terrorist

elements that have been spreading across

uh the Sahel region um now Niger was not

the most uh worrisome case it was not

the most beset uh by that terrorist

threat Burkina and Mali have seen far

greater uh death tolls and civilian uh

casualties related to those conflicts

but nonetheless I think there was a

certain degree of uh discontentment uh

within the military uh clearly there's

been some speculation that perhaps they

haven't been receiving uh the training

that they want or the supplies and the

material that have been promised to them

it's hard to say exactly uh what their

grievances are they've been very uh

murky about it just saying uh that it's

the political situation the

socio-economic situation and the

security situation in the country that

caused them to carry out this coup so

that's not a lot to go on given that

it's every thing the U.S says it gives

unwavering support to Muhammad but in

Practical terms how far will that

support go

well again I think we've seen Washington

trying to Rally support not only uh from

its from itself uh but we've seen the

neighboring states uh coming in on uh

Benin and Nigeria intervening uh with

with a mediation effort we don't know

how far that's going to go we've seen

the African Union and ecowas the

regional organization condemning this

coup so there has been I think much more

rallying around uh the Nigerian

president than we saw perhaps in Burkina

Faso or Mali where military coups came

after other military coups bazoom was a

kind of bright spot in this region he

was a democratically elected president

he had embraced uh you know Western

alliances he traveled to France to

Washington multiple times since being

elected had exchanged visits with these

leaders and so it was really seen as the

last uh sahelian leader in the western

Camp I think for him to fall and to be

removed I think poses all kinds of

questions uh for this Alliance of how we

can strengthen and continue to engage uh

sahelian States uh going forward Karen

Hudson we very much appreciate your

insights thank you

thanks