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, lower off from the world and unable to speak to his legal professionals, in response to folks with direct data of the situations of his detention.
9 months since he was toppled in one of many coups which have just lately wracked West Africa, Mohamed Bazoum is lingering in detention with no sign of ending. The army junta that deposed him is searching for to strip him of presidential immunity, paving the best way for him to be prosecuted on prices equivalent to treason, for which the penalty could possibly be life imprisonment, his legal professionals mentioned.
Trapped together with his spouse, Hadiza, and two home staff, he has no entry to a telephone and isn’t allowed to see his legal professionals, different relations or pals, in response to members of his interior circle who spoke on the situation of anonymity due to the precariousness of the state of affairs. His solely customer is a physician, who brings him meals as soon as every week.
The once-loud requires his launch have grown quiet. A lot 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, the USA is getting ready to withdraw about 1,000 troops stationed at an air base within the nation’s desert. France, a longtime associate within the struggle 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,” mentioned 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 had been the actual trigger and that Niger was doing higher than its neighbors at maintaining armed insurgents at bay.
As troopers have seized energy in a number of West and Central African international locations prior 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 partially on Bazoum’s detention,” mentioned 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 converse of him as a former chief. A spokesman for the State Division mentioned 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 would 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 data of the battlefield than the army; and plotting in opposition to the state’s security, as he’s accused of asking international 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 attempting to make an unlawful detention seem respectable.
Throughout his first months of captivity, Mr. Bazoum was held together with his spouse; their 22-year-old son, Salem; and two home staff within the presidential residence. That they had no electrical energy however had been in a position to roam inside the home as guards and others perched on armed pickup vehicles surrounded it.
But the home quickly turned a huge oven, a member of Mr. Bazoum’s shut circle mentioned. Temperatures that reached 105 levels Fahrenheit (40 levels Celsius) exterior made the captives’ pores and skin peel, the particular person mentioned. Ms. Bazoum additionally suffered from a severe episode of malaria.
After the junta accused Mr. Bazoum of attempting to flee in October, it curtailed his motion even additional, trapping him, his household and his home staff right into a wing of the residence. Troopers are actually 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’s electrical energy, however troopers confiscated all telephones, in response to these interviewed in his interior circle.
Mr. Bazoum spends his days exercising on an indoor bike and studying Marxist concept, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Tolstoy’s “Struggle and Peace.” His relations and closest advisers had hoped that he can be launched for Christmas or for Eid al-Fitr in April. His son was launched this yr.
However, as the previous president stays stranded in a bed room as soon as utilized by one in all his youngsters, they are saying that his subsequent transfer is perhaps to jail.
“Jail has at all times been one thing he has taken under consideration in his political profession,” a member of Mr. Bazoum’s shut circle mentioned.
A onetime highschool philosophy trainer, Mr. Bazoum was elected president of Niger in 2021 and rapidly made the nation some of the favored recipients of international help in West Africa. He tackled corruption and vowed to ship extra women to highschool, partially 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 yr.
He sought assist from the USA and European international locations in preventing off extremist teams and purchased drones from Turkey, but additionally 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 basic, António Guterres. European emissaries just like the Prince of Denmark and Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, additionally visited.
“Bazoum was seen as one of the best of all companions, and Western leaders had been connected to him,” mentioned Jean-Hervé Jézéquel, the Worldwide Disaster Group’s venture director for the Sahel area, which incorporates Niger. However “up to now, that reputation hasn’t borne fruit” in securing Mr. Bazoum’s launch, he mentioned.
For months, the USA and European international locations remained divided over one of the best method to acquire his launch from Niger’s junta and to encourage a return to civilian rule, in response to three senior Western officers engaged on Niger. France pushed for a army intervention; the USA resisted the thought.
Now, Niger has kicked out each international locations and introduced Russia in.
Mr. Barou, the senior adviser to Mr. Bazoum, mentioned there was little to hope for his freedom from the present junta. “Within the historical past of Niger,” he mentioned, “detained presidents had been by no means launched till the troopers who deposed them bought evicted.”