The Niger Junta Declares That It Will Try The Former President For Treachery

Niger junta
Niger's President general Salou Djibo (C) greets media after a meeting with France's state-owned nuclear giant Areva's CEO Anne Lauvergeon on September 30, 2010 at the presidential palace in Niamaey. Gunmen seized the five French nationals, most working for France's state-owned nuclear giant Areva or its engineering sub-contractor Satom, as well as a Togolese and a Madagascan in a raid on September 16 on a uranium mining town of Arlit in the deserts of northern Niger. AFP PHOTO / ISSOUF SANOGO (Photo credit should read ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images)

The army junta that overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum in Niger the previous month had said that it will try him for treason for his communications with foreign leaders and international organizations. Leaders from the US, UN, and West Africa denounced the action, calling it just another indication that the Niger junta is not interested in finding a peaceful solution to the problem.

WA’s regional body ECOWAS along with the global powers have condemned the leaders of the coup, imprisonment of Bazoum, and dissolution of the government. Last week, ECOWAS resolved to build a standby force that might get involved if diplomacy failed. Not only is Niger junta’s future at risk—a significant producer of uranium and ally of the West in the struggle against a rising Islamist insurgency along with being an influence of the conflicting global powers. 

The Present Scenario Is Different From Niger Junta’s Initial Resolutions Of Peace 

In a declaration read out via television on Sunday, Colonel Amadou Abdramane, a spokesman for the Niger Junta, stated that the authorities had collected the evidence necessary for the prosecution of the president. He had been charged with high treason as well as undermining the external and internal security of the place.

The move to indict Bazoum was seen as “very worrying” by U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric, who again renewed calls for the president’s immediate release. Vedant Patel, a deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. The State Department stated that the action has been unjustified and unwarranted and would not be contributing to a peaceful solution to the crisis. The action was denounced by ECOWAS as a provocation. The regional alliance claimed that the present scenario goes against the initial willingness shown by the Niger junta to resolve constitutional matters in peace.