Deposed president Mohamed Bazoum attempted to escape at night, military spokesman Amadou Abdramane said on state television.
“Today, Thursday, October 19, 2023, at around 3 a.m., deposed president Mohamed Bazoum, accompanied by his family, his two visitors, and two security elements, attempted to escape from his place of detention,” Abdramane said.
The interim authorities said that Bazoum and his family, with the help of accomplices in the security forces, planned to drive a vehicle to the outskirts of the capital Niamey and catch a helicopter to neighbouring Nigeria.
The escape plan was to be conducted in three phases according to the spokesman explaining that it would begin with an escape to a first recovery point near the presidential palace, to be reached by an unmarked vehicle.
The Escape plan
"Phase 2. This vehicle would be driven to a hideout in the Tchangaré district, on the northern outskirts of the town of Niamey. Phase 3. From this hideout, a move would be made to two helicopters belonging to a foreign power supposed to infiltrate them into Nigeria.”
Bazoum has been under house arrest since members of his presidential guard staged a coup in late July. It is not clear where he and the rest of the group are now being held.
"For the time being, the main perpetrators and some of their accomplices have been arrested. The public prosecutor has already opened an investigation. The situation is under control,” the military spokesman added, denouncing Bazoum's "irresponsible attitude".
Sahel coup belt
Niger is part of the African region known as the Sahel - a belt of semi-arid land that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, just south of the Sahara Desert. The area is plagued by milliants and beset by military regimes.
Niger's coup was one of five that have swept West Africa's central Sahel region in three years, leaving a vast band of arid terrain south of the Sahara Desert under the control of military rulers.
Bazoum's party and family members say he has had no access to running water, electricity or fresh goods, prompting condemnation from former Western allies.
