APA-Niamey (Niger) Unmoved, the junta in Niger says it would not free detained former president Mohamed Bazoum despite an offer by the West African regional grouping Ecowas to lift sanctions in exchange for his freedom.
Junta leader Gen Abdourahamane Tiani appears not too impressed by Ecowas’s apparent switch from a hardline stance to a more negotiable position, stating categorically in an address to Nigeriens that Mr. Bazoum’s house arrest would not end anytime soon.
West African leaders who met in Abuja last Sunday had given Mr. Tiani a way out of sanctions if Bazoum and his wife and son would be freed without conditions.
In the wake of Tiani’s refusal to countenance a change of position over the ailing former president, Ecowas has said sanctions against his junta would continue.
Mohamed Bazoum and his immediate family were placed under house arrested shortly after Tiani’s coup against him had succeeded in July.
Ecowas had given the junta an ultimatum to reinstate Bazoum and return to barracks or face possible military invasion to restore him in power, a threat which Tiani and his junta chose to dare to the bitterest end.
After months of negotiations, Ecowas had softened its position but rejected the junta’s three year transition timetable, demanding it to be reduced.
Although Gen Tiani had agreed in principle to shorten the timetable, his junta has refused to compromise over Bazoum whose relatives have claimed that he is being detained under atrocious conditions and warned that his health could deteriorate as a result.
Bazoum had made an unsuccessful attempt to escape.
Meanwhile Ecowas have issued a statement on Monday saying they would maintain sanctions against the junta in Niamey in the wake of Tiani’s latest show of intransigence.