ACCESS to the official residence of Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was blocked off early Wednesday by members of the elite Presidential Guard, a source close to Bazoum said, although the reason was unclear.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that a coup attempt is possibly ongoing at the presidential palace in Niamey. The president is reported to be negotiating with armed forces who have blocked access to the palace. The situation is unclear at present.
The landlocked West African state is one of the most coup-prone nations in the world, experiencing four since independence from France in 1960 as well as numerous attempted coups.
Guards blocked off access both to Bazoum’s residence and the presidential offices in Niamey, although there was no abnormal military deployment or sounds of gunfire in the area, and traffic was normal, an AFP journalist saw.
Bazoum, who was democratically elected in 2021, is a close ally of France.
The country’s last coup occurred in February 2010, overturning then president Mamadou Tandja.
Niger is struggling with two terrorist campaigns — one in the southwest, which swept in from neighbouring Mali in 2015, and the other in the southeast, involving terrorists based in northeastern Nigeria.
