Mohamed Bazoum, President of Niger elected in February, is not sworn in until Friday, April 2, but he has already been the victim of an attempted coup.
The affair, of course, looks more like a failed mutiny than a real putsch, but it speaks volumes about the political and security difficulties that await the new head of state.
It adds to the demonstrations of the opposition, which rejects the results of the poll crying to the fraud, and to the resurgence of Islamist violence which, after having marked a stop, has made dozens of deaths in recent weeks.
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"The coup" started in front of the gates of the vast presidential complex, in Niamey, on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.
Shortly before 3 a.m., a deaf gunfight broke out.
“The shots were intense, for about thirty minutes.
There were heavy weapons and light weapons ”
, assured AFP a resident of the Plateau district.
The attackers failed to enter the palace
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