Why was Mohamed Bazoum removed from power in the 2023 coup?

Mohamed Bazoum had won Niger's presidency with 56 percent of the vote and was widely regarded as a reformist leader committed to keeping his country aligned with the West. He won presidential elections with 56 percent of the vote, in elections widely seen as free and fair.

The immediate trigger: a general about to be fired

On July 26, 2023, General Abdourahamane Tchiani ordered presidential guards to detain Bazoum at his residential palace in Niamey. Bazoum had been planning to relieve Tchiani from his position, and sources close to Bazoum said he had decided on Tchiani's dismissal at a cabinet meeting just two days earlier, as their relations had become strained. For the first two years of Bazoum's presidency, Tchiani had actually been a loyal supporter, even thwarting a prior coup attempt and being decorated by Bazoum for his loyalty. The coup was most likely a reaction to the threat of his own dismissal.

Bazoum had been trying to diminish the Tchiani threat by preparing to fire him and by cutting the budget of the presidential guard, while simultaneously increasing the overall military budget to counter jihadist threats and to cultivate support elsewhere in the armed forces.

The official justification versus the real picture

The junta called itself the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) and gave a different public explanation. The coup was officially justified by claims of deteriorating security and economic mismanagement. But independent analysts found the economic argument hard to accept: Niger's economy had rebounded strongly after the pandemic, with growth estimated at 11.5 percent, and further growth of nearly 7 percent in 2023 and 12.5 percent in 2024 had been projected before the coup.

Deeper currents in the military

The personal power struggle sat inside a broader pattern. Anti-French resentment had been growing in the ranks of the Nigerien military, which hampered the military cooperation with France that Bazoum had expanded and contributed to his growing unpopularity in military circles, with France accused of conducting operations in Niger in an uncoordinated and autonomous manner. The West's response to the coup hardened around demanding Bazoum's restoration, which drove the junta's anti-Western orientation further, producing anti-France and anti-ECOWAS protests, an attack on the French embassy, and the public display of pro-Russia symbols.

ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, threatened military intervention and imposed severe sanctions. It was Niger's fifth military coup since independence from France in 1960, and the first since 2010. Bazoum refused to resign and insisted on his legitimacy, but the junta held its grip. Tchiani, the man who launched the coup, was later inaugurated as president of Niger.