AES Condemns EU’s Resolution on Detention of Former Nigerien President

The Confederation of Sahel States (AES) has strongly condemned a resolution by the European Parliament concerning the detention of former Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum by the transitional government.

The resolution, dated March 12, 2026, is entitled “Resolution of the European Parliament on the arbitrary detention of President Mohamed Bazoum by the transitional government in Niger.”

In a statement last week, the Sahel Alliance quoted Burkina Faso President Ibrahim Traoré, currently serving as the rotating president of the AES Confederation, describing the act as “serious,” “concerted,” and a deliberate interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state.

The statement added that the European Parliament has chosen selectivity – both inappropriate and malicious – by passing over in deafening silence the real, flagrant, illegitimate, repeated, and continuous violations of international law committed, including the kidnapping of a Head of State and the assassination of a religious and spiritual leader.

The AES further emphasized that it “has neither injunctions nor lessons on governance to receive,” particularly from actors who, “rather than relaying or even being the source of false information, would do better to refocus their efforts on addressing their own societal crises.”

The statement also condemned the European Parliament for its alleged silence in the face of the orchestrated security crisis that the AES Confederation has endured for more than a decade, refraining from denouncing the barbaric attacks carried out against innocent civilian populations.

The European Parliament, in a March 12 resolution, said that since the July 2023 military coup, former President Mohamed Bazoum and his wife have been held in detention without full access to legal counsel or family visits. The resolution called for their immediate and unconditional release and urged a return to constitutional governance in Niger.