Niger coup leader Bazoum still detained as presidential term ends

The presidential term of Niger’s ousted leader, Mohamed Bazoum, officially ends on Thursday, but he is unlikely to be released from detention or even put on trial, leaving the situation uncertain.

At 66, Mohamed Bazoum was sworn in as president on April 2, 2021, following democratic elections in which he won 55% of the vote.

He has been held since the coup carried out on July 26, 2023, by the junta led by General Abdourahamane Tiani, in a wing of the presidential palace in Niamey, where he remains with his wife.

Since his overthrow, he has refused to resign. His lawyers argue that April 2 should no longer mark the official end of his term, since he has not been allowed to exercise his duties for nearly three years.

“His mandate was interrupted and never resumed. If Mr Bazoum were to return to power tomorrow, the period of his detention should not be counted as part of his time in office,” Moussa Coulibaly, a member of the legal team representing Bazoum, told AFP.

Constitution

Political scientist Valery Ntwali, a specialist in coups in sub-Saharan Africa, however, noted that under Nigerien law, the former head of state has “lost his legal standing since the Constitution under which he was elected has been suspended.”

The junta suspended the Constitution and replaced it with a charter adopted last March, allowing it to remain in power for five additional years, renewable. No elections have been held since the coup.

It remains unclear which legal framework prevails: that of the military junta that seized power by force, or the one in place before the coup. “There is no international authority imposing its view. Instead, some national authorities will negotiate with the junta, while others do not recognise it,” Ntwali said.

Sovereignty

While Niger’s junta, like those in neighbouring and allied Burkina Faso and Mali, has made sovereignty its guiding principle and adopted a hostile stance toward certain Western nations, it is not entirely isolated on the international stage.

It has recently resumed contact with the United States on security cooperation, two years after forcing American troops involved in counter-jihadist operations to leave Niger, while also drawing closer to Russia.

Relations remain tense with former colonial power France, which quickly called for Bazoum’s release, while ties with the European Union are also strained.

Earlier this month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for Bazoum’s immediate release, triggering anger among Sahelian juntas and protests in Niamey and, to a lesser extent, in Ouagadougou.

“This is a failure of the international community. I do not understand how we have not managed to secure the release of this democratically elected president,” said French MEP Christophe Gomart, who initiated the resolution in the European Parliament.

“Europe has influence in Africa, it funds many African countries; the European Union should have applied pressure,” added Gomart, a general and former commander of French special operations, particularly in the Sahel.

European Union

The European Union contributes to funding development programs as well as efforts to combat jihadist groups, which have carried out violent attacks for years in Sahel countries, including Niger.

Bazoum’s presidential immunity was lifted in 2024, but his lawyers consider it unlikely that the official end of his term will speed up the start of his trial.

“For the junta, this is less a legal issue than a security one: what matters to them is that President Bazoum serves as a human shield” in the event of a possible armed intervention, as had been considered by West African countries, said another of his lawyers, Mohamed Seydou Diagne.

After nearly three years, Bazoum is “still detained in the same place and under the same conditions,” without windows, without doors, and without visits, except from his doctor, according to Coulibaly.