A military unit tried to seize the presidential palace in Niger’s capital Niamey overnight in an attempted coup but it was pushed back and the order has been restored, the government said on Wednesday.
The incident comes two days before the swearing-in of President-elect Mohamed Bazoum. The former interior minister succeeds President Mahamadou Issoufou, who stepped down after a decade in power.
The heavy gunfire started around 3 a.m. local time and lasted for around 30 minutes; according to a Reuters witness.
By 10 a.m. traffic had resumed in the area and the situation appeared normal, said, several witnesses.
The assailants, from a nearby airbase, fled after the presidential guard met their attack with heavy shelling and gunfire, three security sources said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
Government spokesman Abdourahamane Zakaria said; several people had been arrested while others were still being sought, but that the situation was under control.
Former U.S. Sahel envoy J. Peter Pham earlier tweeted that both the president and president-elect were safe. The West African nation’s government was not immediately available to comment.
There have been growing attacks by Islamist militants as well as protests in the country following Bazoum’s victory in a February presidential election runoff. Ousmane, a former president who lost that contest, has rejected the results and said there was a fraud
Bazoum’s election is the first democratic transition of power in a state that has witnessed four military coups since independence from France in 1960, including one which toppled Ousmane in 1996.
The U.S. Embassy in Niamey said it was closed for the day due to gunshots heard in the neighborhood and warned; that the security situation remained fluid in the post-election period.
Rising insecurity in the region caused by jihadists linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State has compounded economic challenges for Niger including drought, the COVID-19 pandemic, and low prices for its top export uranium.