The deposed president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, will be tried for “high treason” and undermining national security, according to the military junta’s announcement.
This is the most recent indication that the junta plans to defy international pressure to hand back power to Mr. Bazoum.
Since the military staged a coup about three weeks ago, he has been kept in the basement of his palace.
Despite being held in “difficult” circumstances, Mr. Bazoum was said to be in “good spirits,” according to his doctor.
In response to growing international pressure for Mr. Bazoum’s release, Saturday’s visit was approved.
The junta, however, indicated in a statement read on state television that it was hardening its stance by claiming that it had gathered evidence to bring charges against “the deposed president and his local and foreign accomplices for high treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger”.
No additional information was provided.
There have been growing concerns about the health of Mr. Bazoum, 63, who is being held captive alongside his son, wife, and other family members.
On July 26, the head of the presidential guards unit, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, overthrew him and proclaimed himself the new president of Niger.
The West African regional bloc Ecowas has threatened military action to put an end to the coup, but it has not yet acted on its threat.
The leaders of the coup have issued a warning that they will resist any outside interference.
In addition, Ecowas cut off electricity to Niger as imposed sanctions for the junta. This led to blackouts in the nation’s capital, Niamey, and other significant cities.
A powerful delegation of Muslim clerics from neighboring Nigeria met with junta leaders in Niamey on Saturday in an effort to mediate a resolution to the crisis.
The Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine, who was appointed by the Junta, expressed confidence that discussions with Ecowas would take place in the near future “to discuss how the sanctions against us will be lifted”.
In the midst of an Islamist insurgency and a growing Russian influence in the wider Sahel region through its mercenary group Wagner, the coup in Niger was reminiscent of similar takeovers in the neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali.
Despite being held hostage, Mr. Bazoum managed to publish a piece in The Washington Post warning that the coup would have “devastating consequences for our country, our region, and the entire world”.
Mr. Bazoum is said to have lost a “worrying” amount of weight, and his 20-year-old son, who has a chronic medical condition, is also said to have been denied care.
Volker Turk, the UN representative for human rights, characterized the detention conditions as inhumane, degrading, and in contravention of international human rights law.
His daughter Zazia, 34, who was on vacation in France at the time of the coup, revealed last week to the UK’s Guardian newspaper that her father, mother, and brother were surviving solely on rice and pasta and lacked access to clean water or electricity.
She claimed that because there was no power, fresh food was going bad in the refrigerator.
Since his overthrow, Mr. Bazoum has only appeared in one photograph, which was made public after he met Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, the leader of Chad.
In an attempt to end the crisis, Mr. Déby met with the junta and Mr. Bazoum shortly after the coup.
Source-BBC
