2023-08-14 05:25:48
Those responsible for the coup d’état in West African Niger want to hold the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum accountable for high treason. As of today, the country’s government has collected the necessary evidence “to prosecute the ousted president before competent national and international authorities,” said Colonel Amadou Abdramane in a statement read on national television on Sunday evening.
Bazoum and “his local and foreign accomplices” would face charges of “treason and assault on Niger’s internal and external security,” it said. The military overthrew the democratically elected president in the Sahel state at the end of July and took power. Bazoum has been held captive ever since.
The West African association of states ECOWAS had initially called on the military to reinstate the president and threatened military intervention as a “last option”. However, an ultimatum set by ECOWAS passed without consequences.
Only a few hours earlier, it was said that the putschists had declared their willingness to negotiate with the West African group of states ECOWAS. This was announced by the head of a delegation of Islamic clerics, Nigerian Sheikh Bala Lau, on Sunday following a meeting with Niger’s new ruler, General Abdourahamane Tiani.
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