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🔴 Live: EU ‘deeply concerned’ over detention conditions of Niger’s president
The EU on Friday criticised the worsening conditions of detained Niger President Mohamed Bazoum and called for his immediate release. The news comes after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Thursday for a peaceful solution to reverse Niger’s coup after the West African bloc ECOWAS approved a “standby” military force. Read our live blog for all the latest developments on the situation in Niger. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
Issued on: 11/08/2023 – 00:16
Modified: 11/08/2023 – 11:12
3 min
A woman holds a photo of ousted Niger President Mohamed Bazoum during a protest outside the Niger Embassy in Paris, France on August 5, 2023.
A woman holds a photo of ousted Niger President Mohamed Bazoum during a protest outside the Niger Embassy in Paris, France on August 5, 2023. © Stefano Rellandini, AFP
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FRANCE 24
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FRANCE 24
11:09am: Burkina junta suspends radio station over Niger criticism
Burkina Faso’s junta-led government has suspended one of the country’s most popular radio stations after it broadcast an interview deemed “insulting” to Niger’s new military leaders.
Radio Omega was immediately suspended on Thursday “until further notice”, Communications Minister Rimtalba Jean Emmanuel Ouedraogo said in a statement. He said the measure was “in the higher interests of the Nation”.
The station, part of the Omega media group owned by journalist and former foreign minister Alpha Barry, ceased broadcasting after the statement was issued late Thursday.
The channel had run an interview with Ousmane Abdoul Moumouni, the spokesman of a newly-established Nigerien group campaigning to return President Mohamed Bazoum to power.
Moumouni made “insulting comments with regard to the new Nigerien authorities”, said Ouedraogo, who is also government spokesman. His organisation “is clearly campaigning for violence and war against the sovereign people of Niger” and seeks to restore Bazoum “by every means”, he charged.
9:59am: EU ‘deeply concerned’ over detention conditions of Niger president
The EU on Friday criticised the worsening conditions of detained Niger President Mohamed Bazoum and called for his immediate release after he was deposed in a coup.
“The EU reiterates it is deeply concerned at the deteriorating conditions in which the president is being detained. Mohamed Bazoum and his family, according to the latest information, have been deprived of food, electricity and medical care for several days,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell posted online.
4:46am: US says it will hold Niger junta accountable for detained leader’s safety
The United States will hold the junta that took power in Niger accountable for the safety of democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, his family, and detained members of the government, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Thursday.
“The United States joins the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in calling for the restoration of constitutional order in Niger,” Blinken said in a statement released by the US State Department.
00:05am: Blinken says US backs ECOWAS efforts on Niger
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken voiced support for efforts of the West African bloc ECOWAS on Niger, without explicitly backing its call at a summit for military intervention.
“ECOWAS, an organisation that brings together West African countries, is playing a key role in making clear the imperative of a return to constitutional order, and we very much support ECOWAS’ leadership and work on this,” he said on Thursday.
The United States has in recent days cautioned that military force should only be a last resort and that diplomacy was the best way to resolve the crisis.
Hours earlier, the West African bloc ordered the activation of a standby force for possible use against the junta in Niger. Reporting from Abuja in neighbouring Nigeria, FRANCE 24’s senior reporter Catherine Norris-Trent said it could take weeks for ECOWAS to get such a force together, but that it sends a strong signal.
“There’s an awful lot about this that isn’t clear,” she said. “We don’t know the locations, the timings, the budget, nor indeed [have any] final confirmation on which troops from which countries would be involved.
“It could take weeks to get a regional force together.”
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But, she said, ECOWAS is “ramping up the pressure on the junta in Niger, very much signaling that ECOWAS is willing to take military action if needed to reinstore what they call democracy in Niger”.
Click on the video below to watch the full report.
