Demonstrators gather to protest the detention of President Mohamed Bazoum by the Presidential Guard in Niamey on July 26. – AFP photo
BRUSSELS (July 27): The European Union today demanded the “immediate release” of Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum and his family after elite troops detained him and declared they had taken power.
“Niger is an essential partner of the European Union in the Sahel, whose destabilisation would not serve the interest of anyone in the country, the region or beyond,” spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said.
EU chief Charles Michel posted online that he had vowed the bloc’s “full support” for Bazoum in phone calls with Niger’s leader on Wednesday.
The EU earlier this year launched a military cooperation mission to help train Niger’s armed forces as they battle jihadists.
The move came as the bloc revised its footprint in the volatile Sahel region after cutting back a training mission in Mali in response to the deployment of Russian mercenaries to support the ruling junta.
Massrali said it was too early to speculate about the future of the mission in Niger.
“But we will, of course, evaluate all that in the light of the evolution of the country and the situation in the country,” she said. – AFP