The Niger Presidential Palace has been blocked by some of the soldiers of the Presidential Guard, local media reported on Wednesday (July 26).
Both AFP and Reuters news agencies claimed that their reporters on the ground saw military vehicles blocking the entrance to the presidential palace in the capital Niamey.
An official in the presidency told Reuters that staff inside the palace have been blocked from accessing their offices.
However, it was not immediately clear whether President Mohamed Bazoum was inside. Bazoum, considered a close ally of France, was democratically elected in 2021.
Access to ministries next to the palace had also been blocked, the security sources told Reuters news agency.
The movements of the military forces have triggered speculations whether the country is going to witness another coup d’état
The landlocked West African nation has experienced four coups since independence from France in 1960 as well as numerous attempted ones.
The last coup occurred in February 2010, overthrowing then-president Mamadou Tandja. In fact, Bazoum has reportedly faced two coup attempts.
Just two days before Bazoum’s inauguration, there was an attempt to overthrow him on March 31, 2021, local media reported.
A second bid to oust Bazoum occurred in March this year “while the president… was in Turkey,” a Niger official told AFP, adding that an arrest was made.
The authorities have never commented publicly on the incident.
In January 2018, nine soldiers and a civilian were sentenced by a military court to jail terms ranging from five to 15 years for having attempted to topple Bazoum’s predecessor, Mahamadou Issoufou, in 2015.
This is a developing story. More updates will be added soon
