Niger soldiers say President Bazoum’s government has been removed

Reuters
By Moussa Aksar and Boureima Balima

NIAMEY, July 26 (Reuters) – Niger President Mohamed Bazoum has been removed from power, according to a group of soldiers who appeared on the West African nation’s national television late on Wednesday, hours after the president was held in the presidential palace.

Reading from a statement, Colonel Amadou Abdramane, seated and flanked by nine other officers wearing fatigues, said the defence and security forces had decided: “Put an end to the regime that you know due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance.”

He said the country’s borders are closed and a nationwide curfew declared, and all institutions of the republic were suspended.

The soldiers warned against any foreign intervention.

Reporting by Moussa Aksar, Boureima Balima and Abdel-Kader Mazou; Additional reporting by Edward McAllister in Dakar, Felix Onuah in Abuja and Andrew Gray in Brussels; Writing by Sofia Christensen, Nellie Peyton and Bate Felix; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Alexander Winning, Nick Macfie, William Maclean, Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler