US ‘greatly worried’ about safety of Niger’s ousted president

The United States is greatly worried about the safety of Niger’s ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, the State Department said on Wednesday, after Bazoum’s party said he and his family were being detained under “cruel” and “inhumane” conditions.

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller told reporters that Washington had no reason to dispute reports on the conditions Bazoum is being held under, which the party said included no running water, no electricity and no access to fresh goods or doctors.

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The Nigerien military carried out an attempted coup on July 26 against Bazoum, a Western ally.

Niger’s Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou recently said that Bazoum was being held with his wife and son without electricity or water.

Miller declined to offer details from Blinken’s call, which took place late Tuesday US time, on the condition of Bazoum, an elected Western ally who was detained during a July 26 takeover by the military.

But he said health concerns were one reason why Blinken’s acting deputy, Victoria Nuland, sought unsuccessfully to see Bazoum during an unannounced visit on Monday.

“As time goes on, as he’s held in isolation, it’s a situation that is of growing concern to us,” Miller said.

Under Bazoum, Niger was relatively successful in containing an extremist insurgency devastating the Sahel region and was an important ally for the West after two of its neighbours rejected former colonial power France and turned towards Russia instead.

Niger is the world’s seventh-biggest producer of uranium, the most widely used fuel for nuclear energy, adding to its strategic importance.

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