APA-Niamey (Niger) As Niger’s deposed president continues to languish in detention in the presidential compound in Niamey five months after his overthrow, relatives and friends are worried about his welfare.
They claimed that the little communication there was with Mr. Bazoum has been severed while the military junta which replaced his government has not bothered to provide regular updates about his welfare or that of his wife and son who are also being held and are under close watch.
So far the new strongmen in Niamey have ignored all calls from home and abroad for his release especially given his precarious state of health in the last few months.
Members of Bazoum’s family fear that his situation has been rendered more desperately acute since a botched attempt by him to escape together with his personal bodyguard and cooks.
They said the junta has tightened the watch around him, apparently spurning any attempt to reach him via telephone or other means which could help reassure them that he was alive and well.
”Right now we fear the worst could happen to him” said an anonymous family member.
A legal complaint about Bazoum’s alleged mistreatment while under house arrest has since been filed at the West African regional court against the military government in Niamey.
His ouster in July was against the backdrop of worsening insecurity in Niger and across West Africa where jihadists have ramped up attacks.
Aside from Niger, neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso are also blighted by regular jihadist raids.
The junta led by Abdurahman Tiani used the security crisis to justify overthrowing Bazoum but his family say those who seized power appear to be holding him at ransom in exchange for maintaining their hold on the country.
Holding him became a tactical ploy especially after the West African regional grouping Ecowas threatened to use force to restore him as the democratically elected leader if the junta did not comply with a demand by heads of state of the region to relinquish power to him and return back to barracks.
So far that threat has waned with the passage of time as Ecowas leaders opt for dialogue to resolve Niger’s lingering political crisis.
Tiani’s three-year transition timetable to return the country to democratic order was rejected by regional leaders who have been negotiating for a compromise in which Mr. Bazoum’s fate as the country’s restored leader must be taken into consideration.
So far these talks remain deadlocked, rendering the prospect of ending his house arrest and all the implications that go with it an intractable affair.
WN/as/APA