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The navy junta within the West African nation of Niger claimed that it had disrupted an try by the ousted president, Mohamed Bazoum, to flee on Thursday from the presidential residence, the place he has been detained since he was overthrown in a coup almost three months in the past.
His attorneys denied the assertion, mentioned that that they had misplaced contact with him, and referred to as as soon as once more for his rapid launch.
Since mutinous troopers in Niger seized energy in a coup in late July, Mr. Bazoum had been stranded together with his spouse and son within the presidential residence in Niger’s capital, Niamey. Whereas Mr. Bazoum had been in a position to talk together with his attorneys, they mentioned that since Wednesday evening that they had acquired no information of his whereabouts or situation.
“It’s a complete blackout,” Mohamed Seydou Diagne, one among Mr. Bazoum’s attorneys, mentioned in a phone interview on Friday. “We now have causes to fret, much more so once we know that he’s within the palms of the navy.”
A spokesman for the Nigerien navy leaders didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Bazoum, who grew to become president in 2021, was thought of an in depth ally of France and america, which each maintained navy bases there. Niger, a poor, landlocked nation of 25 million, has been battling Islamist insurgents affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Niger’s navy junta mentioned in a press release that Mr. Bazoum had tried to flee at 3 a.m. on Thursday together with his household, two safety personnel and two cooks. An unmarked automobile ready close by was speculated to take them to the outskirts of Niamey, the junta mentioned, earlier than “two helicopters belonging to a overseas energy” would have flown them to neighboring Nigeria.
The junta mentioned it had arrested “the primary actors and a few of their accomplices,” however didn’t say whether or not this included the president.
However Mr. Bazoum’s lawyer, Mr. Diagne, referred to as the thought of an escape far-fetched. “How can one escape a navy precinct?” he mentioned, referring to the navy compound the place the presidential residence sits.
Electrical energy and water had been minimize off to the residence in early August. A health care provider who was bringing meals to the household each two days was denied entry to the residence Friday morning, the attorneys mentioned.
After the coup in late July, West African international locations threatened to mount a navy operation to launch Mr. Bazoum and restore constitutional order in Niger.
However prospects of navy motion have largely light, and Niger’s junta has as an alternative tightened its grip on the nation. It has severed ties with France, which started withdrawing the 1,500 troops it had within the nation final week. It has shaped a brand new safety alliance with neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, two different junta-led international locations. And it has silenced opposition voices and journalists.
Final week, the Biden administration introduced that it was suspending almost $200 million in support and a further $442 million in commerce and agricultural help to Niger, after designating the July navy takeover a coup.
An adviser to Mr. Bazoum, talking on the situation of anonymity to debate his state of affairs, mentioned that till Thursday the ousted president had been in a position to talk with shut allies and his attorneys by means of a phone that these guarding him had not confiscated.
This time, the buddy mentioned, Mr. Bazoum appeared to be with none technique of communication with the skin world.
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