Four ministers arrested in Niger, a former minister and the leader of Mohamed Bazoum's party, the president-elect overthrown in a coup d'état in recent days . This was announced by the presidential party in a statement to AFP.
"After the kidnapping of the President of the Republic Mohamed Bazoum, the coup plotters try again and multiply the illegal arrests ", denounced the Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism (Pnds).
Oil Minister Mahamane Sani Mahamadou - son of former President Mahamadou Issoufou - and Mines Minister Ousseini Hadizatou arrested. The coup plotters also «arrested the president of the national executive committee of the PNDS, Fourmakoye Gado. This follows the arrests of Interior and Decentralization Minister Hama Amadou Souley, Transport Minister Oumarou Malam Alma, and MP and former Defense Minister Kalla Moutari,” the party said.
The party "demands" the "immediate release" of the ministers arrested and "unjustly kidnapped", stating that it fears that Niger is moving towards "a dictatorial and totalitarian regime".
Sources close to the presidency also reported the arrest of the minister of professional education, Kassoum Moctar.
President Bazoum has been held hostage in his residence by members of his bodyguard since Wednesday morning . He spoke by telephone with several heads of state and other personalities from Niger's partner states, such as France and the United States.
“We hope that democracy can be restored in Niger with the elected president Mohamed Bazoum, whom we support. We do not recognize the military junta. Today I spoke with the French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and with the EU High Representative Josep Borrel and I will discuss with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken» the words of the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani .
“There are just under a hundred Italians in Niger and they are in no danger. The Farnesina follows them one by one, they are in safety», added Tajani regarding our compatriots.
The instability of Niger , until today the last of the West African countries to have a clear western inclination, can have very important repercussions on all of Europe , above all with the continuous infiltrations in the Sahel of the Wagner brigade.
The country is also one of the strategic hubs of cocaine trafficking, has rich deposits of gold and titanium, and the security of the West could therefore be significantly undermined now that Niger too will presumably increase the pro-Russian network within the 'Africa.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, have issued a week-long ultimatum to the coup leaders for a "full return to constitutional order in the Republic of Niger" . Otherwise the use of force is not excluded.
The message received the support of the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, and the European High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
(Unioneonline/vl)