{"id":42785,"date":"2024-05-04T09:16:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-04T09:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/04\/the-bleak-life-of-a-deposed-president-and-his-wife-held-captive\/"},"modified":"2024-05-04T09:16:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-04T09:16:19","slug":"the-bleak-life-of-a-deposed-president-and-his-wife-held-captive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/04\/the-bleak-life-of-a-deposed-president-and-his-wife-held-captive\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bleak Life of a Deposed President and His Wife, Held Captive"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/04\/multimedia\/04niger-president-01-pwmv\/04niger-president-01-pwmv-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"The Bleak Life of a Deposed President and His Wife, Held Captive\" title=\"The Bleak Life of a Deposed President and His Wife, Held Captive\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Held captive by his former security guards in an isolated wing of his house, the deposed president of Niger paces a bedroom with no direct daylight, cut off from the world and unable to talk to his lawyers, according to people with direct knowledge of the conditions of his detention.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nine months since <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/26\/world\/africa\/niger-military-coup-president-bazoum.html\" title=\"\">he was toppled in one of the coups<\/a> that have recently wracked West Africa, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/08\/18\/world\/africa\/niger-president-bazoum-coup.html\" title=\"\">Mohamed Bazoum<\/a> is lingering in detention with no end in sight. The military junta that deposed him is seeking to strip him of presidential immunity, paving the way for him to be prosecuted on charges such as treason, for which the penalty could be life imprisonment, his lawyers said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Trapped with his wife, Hadiza, and two domestic workers, he has no access to a phone and is not allowed to see his lawyers, other family members or friends, according to members of his inner circle who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the precariousness of the situation. His only visitor is a doctor, who brings him food once a week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The once-loud calls for his release have grown quiet. Many of Mr. Bazoum\u2019s closest allies \u2014 his cabinet members and advisers \u2014 have been thrown into jail or forced to flee Niger.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And some of Mr. Bazoum\u2019s closest international partners are backing away. At the demand of the governing junta, the United States is <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/19\/us\/politics\/us-niger-military-withdrawal.html\" title=\"\">preparing to withdraw about 1,000 troops<\/a> stationed at an <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/06\/world\/africa\/niger-us-air-base.html\" title=\"\">air base in the country\u2019s desert<\/a>. France, a longtime partner in the fight against extremist groups affiliated with Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, departed in December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead, about 100 Russian military instructors arrived in the capital, Niamey, in April as Niger\u2019s new leaders turned to Moscow for security assistance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLittle by little, this man is forgotten in all of these geopolitical moves,\u201d said <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/linktr.ee\/reedbrody\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Reed Brody<\/a>, a prominent human rights lawyer representing Mr. Bazoum.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The military leaders who took over in Niger accused him of failing to secure the country from the Islamist insurgents, but most analysts say political rivalries were the real cause and that Niger was doing better than its neighbors at keeping armed insurgents at bay.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As soldiers have seized power in <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/07\/29\/world\/africa\/africa-coups-niger.html\" title=\"\">several West and Central African countries<\/a> in the past four years, they have <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/09\/15\/world\/africa\/junta-niger-sanctions-food.html\" title=\"\">curtailed individual freedoms<\/a>, delayed a return to civilian rule and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/28\/world\/africa\/burkina-faso-military-conscription.html\" title=\"\">persecuted opponents<\/a>, including the presidents they once served and then ousted.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Bazoum\u2019s ordeal stands out. He has been removed from power but remains at the heart of it, as<strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\"> <\/strong>Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, the senior military official who toppled him and now governs Niger, keeps him detained only a few hundred feet from his office, in the presidential compound.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTchiani\u2019s power lies in part on Bazoum\u2019s detention,\u201d said Amadou Ange Chekaraou Barou, a close adviser to Mr. Bazoum. \u201cBazoum is like a shield to him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The military government in Niger did not respond to several requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bazoum, 64, has refused to resign, but international partners now speak of him as a former leader. A spokesman for the State Department said in April, \u201cWe continue to call for the release of former President Bazoum and those unjustly detained as part of the military coup in July 2023.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">On May 10, he is scheduled for a hearing that could strip his presidential immunity, his lawyers say. This could lead to his prosecution on charges like treason, over an accusation that he tried to escape in October; supporting terrorism, for saying in an interview while president that the Islamist militants had better knowledge of the battlefield than the military; and plotting against the state\u2019s safety, as he is accused of asking foreign powers to free him shortly after the coup.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Moussa Coulibaly, a lawyer representing Mr. Bazoum in hearings in Niamey, refused to say whether the former president had tried to escape, and he accused the junta of trying to make an illegal detention appear legitimate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During his first months of captivity, Mr. Bazoum was held with his wife; their 22-year-old son, Salem; and two domestic workers in the presidential residence. They had no electricity but were able to roam inside the house as guards and others perched on armed pickup trucks surrounded it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Yet the house soon became a gigantic oven, a member of Mr. Bazoum\u2019s close circle said. Temperatures that reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit outside made the captives\u2019 skin peel, the person said. Ms. Bazoum also suffered from a serious episode of malaria.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After the junta accused Mr. Bazoum of trying to escape in October, it curtailed his movement even further, trapping him, his family and his domestic workers into a wing of the residence. Soldiers are now stationed inside and have removed keys from the doors inside the residence, so that Mr. Bazoum cannot lock them for privacy. There is electricity, but soldiers confiscated all telephones, according to those interviewed in his inner circle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Bazoum spends his days exercising on an indoor bike and reading Marxist theory, Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cHamlet\u201d and Tolstoy\u2019s \u201cWar and Peace.\u201d His relatives and closest advisers had hoped that he would be released for Christmas or for Eid al-Fitr in April. His son was released this year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But, as the former president remains stranded in a bedroom once used by one of his children, they say that his next move might be to jail.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPrison has always been something he has taken into account in his political career,\u201d a member of Mr. Bazoum\u2019s close circle said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A onetime high school philosophy teacher, Mr. Bazoum was elected president of Niger in 2021 and quickly made the country one of the most favored recipients of foreign assistance in West Africa. He tackled corruption and vowed to send more girls to school, in part to limit early pregnancies in a country with the world\u2019s highest birthrate. He worked closely with China to build an oil pipeline that is Africa\u2019s longest, which the junta inaugurated this year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He sought help from the United States and European countries in fighting off extremist groups and bought drones from Turkey, but also negotiated with the militants in semisecrecy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He welcomed to the capital the U.S. secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, and the U.N. secretary general, Ant\u00f3nio Guterres. European emissaries like the Prince of Denmark and Germany\u2019s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, also visited.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBazoum was seen as the best of all partners, and Western leaders were attached to him,\u201d said Jean-Herv\u00e9 J\u00e9z\u00e9quel, the International Crisis Group\u2019s project director for the Sahel region, which includes Niger. But \u201cso far, that popularity hasn\u2019t borne fruit\u201d in securing Mr. Bazoum\u2019s release, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For months, the United States and European countries remained divided over the best approach to obtain his release from Niger\u2019s junta and to encourage a return to civilian rule, according to three senior Western officials working on Niger. France pushed for a military intervention; the United States resisted the idea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, Niger has kicked out both countries and brought Russia in.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Barou, the senior adviser to Mr. Bazoum, said there was little to hope for his freedom from the current junta. \u201cIn the history of Niger,\u201d he said, \u201cdetained presidents were never released until the soldiers who deposed them got evicted.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/04\/world\/africa\/niger-bazoum-captivity.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Held captive by his former security guards in an isolated wing of his house, the deposed president of Niger paces a bedroom with no direct daylight, cut off from the world and unable to talk to his lawyers, according to people with direct knowledge of the conditions of his detention. Nine months since he was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/04\/multimedia\/04niger-president-01-pwmv\/04niger-president-01-pwmv-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6864,44191,44190,3502,76,2627,942],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42787,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785\/revisions\/42787"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}