Held captive by his former safety guards in an remoted wing of his home, the deposed president of Niger paces a bed room with no direct daylight, reduce off from the world and unable to speak to his legal professionals, based on individuals with direct information of the circumstances of his detention.
9 months since he was toppled in one of many coups which have lately wracked West Africa, Mohamed Bazoum is lingering in detention ad infinitum. The army junta that deposed him is in search of to strip him of presidential immunity, paving the way in which for him to be prosecuted on prices similar to treason, for which the penalty could possibly be life imprisonment, his legal professionals stated.
Trapped together with his spouse, Hadiza, and two home employees, he has no entry to a cellphone and isn’t allowed to see his legal professionals, different relations or associates, based on members of his inside circle who spoke on the situation of anonymity due to the precariousness of the scenario. His solely customer is a health care provider, who brings him meals as soon as every week.
The once-loud requires his launch have grown quiet. Lots of Mr. Bazoum’s closest allies — his cupboard members and advisers — have been thrown into jail or pressured to flee Niger.
And a few of Mr. Bazoum’s closest worldwide companions are backing away. On the demand of the governing junta, america is getting ready to withdraw about 1,000 troops stationed at an air base within the nation’s desert. France, a longtime accomplice within the battle in opposition to extremist teams affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, departed in December.
As an alternative, about 100 Russian army instructors arrived within the capital, Niamey, in April as Niger’s new leaders turned to Moscow for safety help.
“Little by little, this man is forgotten in all of those geopolitical strikes,” stated Reed Brody, a outstanding human rights lawyer representing Mr. Bazoum.
The army leaders who took over in Niger accused him of failing to safe the nation from the Islamist insurgents, however most analysts say political rivalries have been the true trigger and that Niger was doing higher than its neighbors at holding armed insurgents at bay.
As troopers have seized energy in a number of West and Central African nations up to now 4 years, they’ve curtailed particular person freedoms, delayed a return to civilian rule and persecuted opponents, together with the presidents they as soon as served after which ousted.
However Mr. Bazoum’s ordeal stands out. He has been faraway from energy however stays on the coronary heart of it, as Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, the senior army official who toppled him and now governs Niger, retains him detained only some hundred ft from his workplace, within the presidential compound.
“Tchiani’s energy lies partly on Bazoum’s detention,” stated Amadou Ange Chekaraou Barou, a detailed adviser to Mr. Bazoum. “Bazoum is sort of a protect to him.”
The army authorities in Niger didn’t reply to a number of requests for remark.
Mr. Bazoum, 64, has refused to resign, however worldwide companions now communicate of him as a former chief. A spokesman for the State Division stated in April, “We proceed to name for the discharge of former President Bazoum and people unjustly detained as a part of the army coup in July 2023.”
On Might 10, he’s scheduled for a listening to that might strip his presidential immunity, his legal professionals say. This might result in his prosecution on prices like treason, over an accusation that he tried to flee in October; supporting terrorism, for saying in an interview whereas president that the Islamist militants had higher information of the battlefield than the army; and plotting in opposition to the state’s security, as he’s accused of asking overseas powers to free him shortly after the coup.
Moussa Coulibaly, a lawyer representing Mr. Bazoum in hearings in Niamey, refused to say whether or not the previous president had tried to flee, and he accused the junta of making an attempt to make an unlawful detention seem professional.
Throughout his first months of captivity, Mr. Bazoum was held together with his spouse; their 22-year-old son, Salem; and two home employees within the presidential residence. They’d no electrical energy however have been capable of roam inside the home as guards and others perched on armed pickup vans surrounded it.
But the home quickly turned a huge oven, a member of Mr. Bazoum’s shut circle stated. Temperatures that reached 105 levels Fahrenheit outdoors made the captives’ pores and skin peel, the particular person stated. Ms. Bazoum additionally suffered from a severe episode of malaria.
After the junta accused Mr. Bazoum of making an attempt to flee in October, it curtailed his motion even additional, trapping him, his household and his home employees right into a wing of the residence. Troopers at the moment are stationed inside and have eliminated keys from the doorways contained in the residence, in order that Mr. Bazoum can not lock them for privateness. There may be electrical energy, however troopers confiscated all telephones, based on these interviewed in his inside circle.
Mr. Bazoum spends his days exercising on an indoor bike and studying Marxist idea, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Tolstoy’s “Conflict and Peace.” His family and closest advisers had hoped that he could be launched for Christmas or for Eid al-Fitr in April. His son was launched this 12 months.
However, as the previous president stays stranded in a bed room as soon as utilized by considered one of his youngsters, they are saying that his subsequent transfer is perhaps to jail.
“Jail has all the time been one thing he has taken into consideration in his political profession,” a member of Mr. Bazoum’s shut circle stated.
A onetime highschool philosophy instructor, Mr. Bazoum was elected president of Niger in 2021 and shortly made the nation probably the most favored recipients of overseas help in West Africa. He tackled corruption and vowed to ship extra ladies to highschool, partly to restrict early pregnancies in a rustic with the world’s highest birthrate. He labored carefully with China to construct an oil pipeline that’s Africa’s longest, which the junta inaugurated this 12 months.
He sought assist from america and European nations in preventing off extremist teams and acquired drones from Turkey, but in addition negotiated with the militants in semisecrecy.
He welcomed to the capital the U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, and the U.N. secretary normal, António Guterres. European emissaries just like the Prince of Denmark and Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, additionally visited.
“Bazoum was seen as the most effective of all companions, and Western leaders have been hooked up to him,” stated Jean-Hervé Jézéquel, the Worldwide Disaster Group’s undertaking director for the Sahel area, which incorporates Niger. However “to this point, that reputation hasn’t borne fruit” in securing Mr. Bazoum’s launch, he stated.
For months, america and European nations remained divided over the most effective strategy to acquire his launch from Niger’s junta and to encourage a return to civilian rule, based on three senior Western officers engaged on Niger. France pushed for a army intervention; america resisted the thought.
Now, Niger has kicked out each nations and introduced Russia in.
Mr. Barou, the senior adviser to Mr. Bazoum, stated there was little to hope for his freedom from the present junta. “Within the historical past of Niger,” he stated, “detained presidents have been by no means launched till the troopers who deposed them bought evicted.”
