NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 11 — The African Union (AU) has called for an urgent intervention in Niger to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum to power.
In a statement issued in support of resolutions by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki said the international community must act to stop an anti-constitutional change in Niger.
“The Chairperson calls on the entire international community to unite efforts to save the moral and physical integrity of President Mohamed Bazoum,” Faki’s office said on Friday.
Faki further denounced the worsening detention conditions of Bazoum and members of his family.
“The Chairperson expresses his deep concern at the reported poor conditions of detention of President Mohamed Bazoum. Indeed, concordant sources attest to a worrying deterioration of such conditions.”
He appealed to the ECOWAS to hasten its intervention to rescue Bazoum, the country’s democratically-elected leader, from the junta which has defied calls to free him.
“The Chairperson calls on the military authorities to urgently halt the escalation of relations with the regional organization ECOWAS, including the cessation of the continued sequestration of President Bazoum in worryingly poor conditions,” Faki’s Press Office said.
AU’s statement came hours after Kenya’s President William Ruto, while speaking in Mozambique, called for expulsion of countries run by military juntas from the AU.
