US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged for Niger President Mohamed Bazoum’s immediate release on Thursday.
According to a group of troops who appeared on the West African nation’s national television late on Wednesday, hours after the president was detained in the presidential palace, Bazoum has been deposed.
“Whether this constitutes a coup technically or not, I can’t say; that’s for the lawyers to decide, but what it clearly constitutes is an attempt to seize power by force and disrupt the constitution,” Blinken said during a press conference in Wellington, New Zealand’s capital.
Blinken demanded that Bazoum be released immediately.
