Mohamed Bazoum

Hama Amadou, a leading opposition figure in Niger, has been allowed out of prison to fly to France for medical care, a top aide said on Thursday.

Niger's new president Mohamed Bazoum lashed out on Friday at jihadists who have carried out devastating attacks on his country, accusing them of "war crimes" after he took the helm of the troubled nation.

Mohamed Bazoum said he would make education and security a priority as he took over as president of Niger on Friday, inheriting a state racked by political tension and an Islamist insurgency that has killed more than 300 people this year.

Niger’s newly elected President Mohamed Bazoum has been sworn in, a democratic watershed overshadowed by armed groups’ violence and alleged coup bid two days ago.

Arrests have been made in connection with a coup attempt in Niger overnight, according to a statement sent to CNN by a diplomatic source in the country. “Several people linked to the coup attempt” have...

Niger’s newly-elected president Mohamed Bazoum is set to be sworn into office on Friday, a democratic watershed overshadowed by jihadist violence and alleged coup bid two days ago.

Speaking in a telephone conversation with Mahamadou Issoufou, his counterpart and outgoing President on the situation in Niger Republic, President Buhari according to a statement by his media aide, Garba Shehu warned that “the international community is hostile to the change of government by violent and unconstitutional means.”

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 order has been restored, the government said on Wednesday, days before a handover of power.

Niger’s capital Niamey was calm on Wednesday morning following heavy gunfire near the presidential palace during the night after a unit from a nearby air base tried to seize the palace, a senior Niger security source said.

Attacks by suspected jihadists in villages in Niger's Tahoua region on Sunday left 137 people dead, the government said, in a massacre that has underscored the huge security challenges facing new President Mohamed Bazoum.

Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has condemned the attack on a convoy returning from a weekly market in Niger Republic’s Tillaberi region in which many citizens were killed.

President Muhammadu Buhari Tuesday in Abuja congratulated outgoing President of Niger Republic, Mahamadou Issoufou, for successful completion of his second tenure, and wining the prestigious 2020 Mo Ibrahim prize for Achievement in African Leadership, describing him as a worthy African leader.

Supporters of the losing candidate in Niger’s presidential election burnt tyres, threw rocks and set several buildings on fire on Thursday, in a third day of violent protests in the capital Niamey.

Niger opposition leader Mahamane Ousmane has claimed that he narrowly won the country's presidential election, as fresh violence erupted a day after official results gave victory to his rival by a wide margin.

Former Interior Minister, Mohamed Bazoum, the candidate of Niger’s ruling PNDS party, has won the presidential elections with 55.75 per cent of the second-round vote, according to provisional figures published on Tuesday.

Niger’s ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum has solidified his lead in a presidential election runoff meant to usher in the first democratic transition of power in the West African nation, election commission data showed on Tuesday.

Seven election workers were killed during Niger’s presidential vote on Sunday when their vehicle struck a landmine, a local official said, marring a day meant to usher in the country’s first democratic transition of power.

Chad will deploy some 1 000 troops to the tri-border region of Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali to reinforce national armies that, backed by French and European allies, are battling Islamist insurgents, according to French and Chadian sources.

Niger's ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum will face former president Mahamane Ousmane in a presidential election runoff in February, according to provisional results of the first round of the contest announced by the electoral commission on Saturday.

Niger, with an estimated 24 million population, seven million registered voters and a 171-seat parliament is a landlocked country in West Africa named after the Niger River and is notorious for political instability, including military coups. It currently endures crises related to climate change and insecurity from militant groups, including Boko Haram and ISIS West Africa

With an economy slowed down by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – compounding an already difficult situation occasioned by the effect of climate change and the falling price of the country’s major export commodity, uranium – whoever succeeds President Mahamadou Issoufou will have his job cut out for him.

Seven years after the first Boko Haram attacks in southeastern Niger, people in the city of Diffa, dare not even speak the group’s name.