Ousted president of Niger Mohamed Bazoum and his family are being detained under “cruel” and “inhumane” conditions at their residence, his party said on Wednesday.
The PNDS-Tarayya in a statement said the deposed first family has no access to running water, electricity, fresh goods or doctors.
It called for a nationwide mobilisation to save them.
The U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the U.S. was greatly worried about Bazoum’s safety and was still looking for a reversal of the military takeover.
“We continue to engage with our partners in the region. We continue to engage with other governments,” he told a briefing.
Despited their diplomatic standoff with ECOWAS, AU, UN and the United States, the junta leaders made an exception by meeting on Wednesday with two envoys of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, who also chairs the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), in the capital Niamey.
The envoys – former Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi and former head of state Abdulsalami Abubakar – were allowed into the country despite closed borders.
Only Sanusi met junta leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani, while Abdulsalami met with other representatives at the airport, Reuters reported.
“We’ll continue to do our best to bring the two parties together to improve understanding. This is the time for public diplomacy,” Sanusi told reporters upon his return to Abuja.
