After a 10-year hibernation, the specter of military coups appeared again in Niger, which remained a French colony for 60 years, until it gained independence from France in 1960, but its name remained associated with military coups, political assassinations, extreme poverty, famine and desertification, as well as uranium, which is the third The largest source of it in the world.

Niger is on a date tomorrow, Friday, with a precedent, the first of its kind in its political history, for the peaceful rotation of power, where the elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, 60, is to be sworn in as the new president of the country to succeed President Muhammad Yusuf, who was previously elected 10 years ago, and leaves power Voluntarily after he held two presidential terms of 5 years each. Unlike many of his African counterparts clinging to power, he did not run for a third term.

Two days before the historic event, which some described as a "small revolution", the security forces in Niger announced at dawn yesterday, Wednesday, that they had thwarted an attempted military coup in the presidential palace in the capital Niamey, as "order was restored within an hour," and the forces said that many people were arrested Others are being searched for in connection with the events.

The coup attempt raised fears of more violence in conjunction with the inauguration of Bazum, scheduled for Friday.

In the first round of the presidential elections that were held on 27 December last year, 30 candidates competed for the presidency, which is a precedent in terms of the number of candidates in the country's history, and Mohamed Bazoum, the ruling National Democratic Rally party candidate, led the results with 39.33% of the vote. For 16.99%, it was obtained by his main competitor, Mahamani Othman (71 years), who came second.

In the second round that took place on February 21 last year, Bazoum won 55% of the vote compared to 44.25% for his rival Osman, who previously held the presidency from 1993 to 1996 and is aspiring to return to it.

Mohamed Bazoum is scheduled to be sworn in at his inauguration at the Presidential Palace in Niamey (Reuters)

Some explain the victory that Bazum achieved with the long friendship he had with President Yusuf since the early 1990s, as Bazum held the position of Minister of Interior, and was a close assistant to the outgoing president and his right-hand man, and some observers believe that he benefited from the state apparatus in his election campaign.

Despite his victory, the real success of the polling lies in the acceptance of the final results by all parties. After Bazoum's progress in the first round, the opposition condemned the elections and demanded an immediate halt to the announcement of the results.

Mahamani Osman - who came second in the polls - still refuses to acknowledge the results announced by the Constitutional Court in Niger, which were praised by international observers, and also called on his supporters to demonstrate across the country, and challenged the results, alleging fraud, which led to short protests. But it was violent and during which many people were killed, but Bazoum described the bloody clashes as "artificial and fleeting."

Bazoum - born in 1960 in Bellabrin in the Diffa region in southeastern Niger - belongs to the Arab Tuareg minority in the country, which was exploited by some opposition figures to accuse him of being of "foreign" origins. She applied to the court accusing him of forging his Nigerian nationality, and confirmed that it will not recognize his victory Presidency and will continue to object to the election results, which it described as fraudulent.

The defamation angered Bazoum during the election campaign, but his aides considered the matter "trivial and unworthy," and indicated that the father of his opponent was from Chad.

Fears

Fears are increasing that the installation of Bazoum will lead to more violence and sectarian conflicts, and evoke the specter of military coups in Niger, especially since the country has a long history with it since independence from France, and the last "coup talk" dates back to 2016, when the authorities announced that 4 army officers They confessed to planning to try to overthrow the regime.

As for the last successful coup, it was on February 18, 2010, when armed soldiers stormed the presidential palace in Niamey in the middle of the day, and arrested President Tangi Mamadou during his presiding over a government meeting, after which the "Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy" was formed, headed by Salou Djibo.

On April 9, 1999, a military coup took place against President Ibrahim Bari Manasra - who had also previously carried out a military coup - and Dawda Malam Wanki was installed as president, and Manasrah was killed in mysterious circumstances.

The coup against Manasra came 3 years after the coup that he himself led on January 27, 1996, and overthrew the first democratically elected president in Niger, Mahamane Othman, after nearly 3 years in power. Prime Minister Hama Amadou was arrested in the coup and killed Several soldiers and members of the presidential guard in clashes.

As for the new president, Bazoum, a long list of internal and external challenges awaits him, including education, security, fighting corruption and infrastructure, and his country has been severely affected by the security crises in the Sahel, Libya and the Lake Chad Basin, and is facing a new challenge from the Islamic State in West Africa.

Bazoum's success in facing these challenges requires experience in dealing with internal unrest and foreign concerns together, but he finds that it is not new to him, especially since he previously held the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs and then Minister of Interior.