Niger rebels fighting for ex-president’s release lay down arms

Nine members of an armed rebel movement seeking the release of Niger's ousted president surrendered Monday, officials in the north of the military-ruled country said.

The rebel Patriotic Liberation Front (FPL) was set up in August 2023, a month after Niger's democratically elected president Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown in a military coup.

Since then, Bazoum has been imprisoned with his wife Hadiza at the presidential palace in the capital Niamey.

"Nine FPL fighters repented and handed over their weapons and ammunition on Monday during a ceremony in the presence of General Ibra Boulama", the governor of Agadez, an official from the governorate of the northern desert region near Libya told AFP.

FPL members began surrendering at the start of the month after discreet negotiations by "influential local personalities", the Air-Info media outlet reported.

On November 1, FPL spokesman Idrissa Madaki and three other members turned themselves in separately in two towns near the Libyan border, according to Niger's army and national television.

Last week, FPL leader Mahmoud Sallah was "provisionally stripped" of his nationality as well as seven members of the Bazoum regime who were suspected notably of "terrorist bomb attacks".

Sallah had claimed responsibility for attacks against the army in the north and disabling part of a crucial pipeline carrying crude oil to Benin in June.

He had also threatened to attack strategic sites.

Another rebel movement also demanding Bazoum's release, the Patriotic Front for Justice (FPJ), has held since June the military prefect of northeastern Bilma and four of his security team, kidnapped after an ambush.

Authorities in Niger, which is also battling attacks by jihadist groups, have stepped up security in recent weeks, with military patrols, checks and searches of vehicles.