Former Military Head of State, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar (rtd), had met General Abdourahamane Tchiani, head of the Niger junta and ousted President, Bazoum, on Saturday.
Abdulsalami led a high powered delegation of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to the troubled West African nation, to engage in last-minute negotiations with the Niger junta and seek a diplomatic solution to the unrest.
Upon their arrival, the delegation was warmly received by Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine, who accompanied them from the airport to the presidential palace.
They met with General Abdourahamane Tchiani, head of the junta, and his team for about 90 minutes and later President Mohamed Bazoum.
What Bazoum told ECOWAS delegation
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Abdulsalami said, “We met him and heard his side of the story. He told us what was done to him and the challenges he is facing. We will communicate this to ECOWAS leaders. Doors for talks are now open for a lasting solution.”
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The former Head of State did not go into details of the discussion with the ousted president.
But some weeks ago, CNN quoted Bazoum in a series of text messages to a friend as saying he had been “deprived of all human contact” , with no one supplying him food or medicine.
According to the overthrown president, he had been living without electricity, a normal occurrence for all Nigeriens after Nigeria cut off electric power in response to the coup.
Bazoum said all of the perishable food he was supplied with has since gone bad, and he was now eating dry pasta and rice.
Last week, the junta granted Bazoum access to his doctor.