The Diplomat
The Spanish government yesterday condemned the coup in Niger, expressed Spain’s “full support” for President Mohamed Bazoum and demanded the “immediate restoration” of constitutional order in the country and democratic normality in the country.
“I have just conveyed to the legitimate president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, Spain’s full support,” declared the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, through his official Twitter account. “We condemn any attempt to undermine the stability of Nigerien institutions,” he continued. “We call for the immediate restoration by peaceful means of the constitutional order in the country,” he added.
For his part, the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, met yesterday with his counterpart from Niger, Hassoumi Massoudou, “to transfer Spain’s support and solidarity to the democratically elected government”, as reported through the same social network. “We condemn attempts to undermine the stability of Niger’s legitimate institutions,” he added. “We ask for an immediate return to democratic normality,” he concluded.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended yesterday “avoid any non-essential travel to Niger”. “In case of traveling to the country, it is not recommended to leave the city of Niamey and it is recommended to avoid any crowd or demonstration,” it added.
President Mohamed Bazoum has been held since last Wednesday after several members of the Presidential Guard seized the Presidential Palace, in Niamey, and asked the Armed Forces and the rest of the National Guard to join the uprising.
Hours after the uprising, in the early hours of Thursday, the coup leaders, grouped in the self-proclaimed National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland (CLSP), announced on national television the dismissal of the Nigerian president because of the “continuous degradation of the security situation and economic and social mismanagement”, as well as the imposition of a curfew and the closure of air and land borders.
They also assured that “all the institutions of the Seventh Republic are suspended” and that “the defense and security forces are handling the situation.” They also made a commitment to the national and international community to respect “the physical and moral integrity of the overthrown authorities in accordance with the principles of human rights” and called on “all foreign partners not to interfere” in this situation. The communiqués were read by Colonel Amadou Abramane in his capacity as “president of the CLSP”.
For its part, the Government of Niger has asked the coup leaders to lay down their arms and has asked the Nigerien people to mobilize to defend democracy. The coup has been strongly condemned by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union, the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.
This is the second coup attempt suffered by Bazoum in just over two years. The previous one occurred on March 31, 2021, two days before his inauguration, but everything ended in several shootings near the Presidential Palace. The incidents coincide with the increase in violence in the country, one of the poorest in the world. Western Niger is threatened by militias from the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (JNIM, the branch of Al Qaeda in Mali) and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), while the Diffa region, a shores of Lake Chad, suffers violence from Boko Haram and its splinter group, the Islamic State in West Africa (ISWA). Besides, Niger is going through its worst humanitarian crisis in a decade, aggravated by a late rainy season and by successive droughts and floods.
