{"id":1061,"date":"2023-10-20T09:38:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2023-10-20T09:38:17","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T09:38:17","slug":"niger-junta-say-ousted-president-mohamed-bazoum-tried-to-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/2023\/10\/20\/niger-junta-say-ousted-president-mohamed-bazoum-tried-to-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"Niger junta say ousted president Mohamed Bazoum tried to escape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The military government in Niger says it has foiled an attempt by the deposed former President, Mohamed Bazoum, to escape from custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former president attempted to flee in the night with his family, cooks and security, a military spokesman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were plans for the group to fly out on helicopters but the plan was foiled, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Bazoum has been under house arrest since members of his presidential guard staged a coup in late July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niger is a key part of the African region known as the Sahel – a belt of land that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. The area is plagued by jihadists and beset by military regimes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The attempted escape happened at around 03:00 (02:00 GMT) on Thursday, military spokesman Amadou Abdramane said on state television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The ousted president Mohamed Bazoum and his family, his two cooks and two security elements, tried to escape from his place of detention,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The escape bid failed and “the main actors and some of the accomplices” were arrested, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The elaborate plan involved Mr Bazoum getting to a hideout on the outskirts of the capital Niamey, Mr Abdramane said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group had then planned to fly out on helicopters “belonging to a foreign power” towards Nigeria, he added, denouncing Mr Bazoum’s “irresponsible attitude”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not clear where the former president and the rest of the group are now being held. An investigation has been launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Niger military overthrew the democratically elected president in a coup on 26 July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It mirrored similar military takeovers in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali, amid an Islamist insurgency and a growing Russian influence in the wider Sahel region through its mercenary group Wagner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Bazoum has refused to officially resign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite his captivity, he was able to publish an article in The Washington Post stating that he was a hostage and that the coup would have “devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after Mr Bazoum’s overthrow, US President Joe Biden called for him to be “immediately released”, and for the “preservation of Niger’s hard-earned democracy”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That followed the expiration of a deadline by Ecowas, a power bloc of West African states, for the coup leaders to stand down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its threats of military intervention were not followed through, and the junta continues to ignore demands for the president’s freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Bazoum’s party and family members say he has had no access to running water, electricity or fresh goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source<\/strong>:\u00a0bbc<\/a><\/sub><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dmedia News (Domajuosu Multimedia)<\/sub><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The military government in Niger says it has foiled an attempt by the deposed former<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"large":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"shareaholic-thumbnail":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"chromenews-featured":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"chromenews-large":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false],"chromenews-medium":["https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/images-16.jpg",275,183,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Babia Mubaric"]},"category_info":"General News<\/a>","tag_info":"General News","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1061"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1063,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1061\/revisions\/1063"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dmediagh.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}