Niger coup successful, president arrested

Soldiers have detained Niger's President Mamadou Tandja in a military coup led by a soldier named Major Adamou Harouna, Nigerien military sources said on Thursday.

"The coup leader has succeeded," one source said. The president and the ministers are being detained not far from the presidential palace, the sources added.

France earlier told its nationals in Niger to stay indoors after reports a coup was under way in the former French colony that was rocked by explosions and gunfire, a diplomat said.

About 1,500 French nationals live in Niger, along with some 500 other Europeans, according to the diplomat.

Niger is a major source of uranium for France's state-controlled nuclear energy company Areva, which is the impoverished nation's top private employer.

Soldiers opened fire earlier Thursday in the capital Niamey in what a senior French official said was a coup against President Tandja.

Witnesses said the firing appeared to be centered on the presidency.

Tandja, 71, has spent more than a decade in power, having extended his term through a controversial referendum last August after dissolving parliament and the constitutional court. Niger has since been isolated on the international stage.

Violence

"We heard automatic gunfire and then large detonations. The house was shaking. It lasted about a half hour, non-stop," said Claire Deschamps, one French national living in Niamey.

She said the violence began around 1200 GMT.

Another witness said shooting had broken out around the presidential palace.

"The shots were directed at the president's office," said the witness, speaking from his workplace situated opposite the complex.

Sporadic shooting continued an hour later, an AFP correspondent who approached the palace said. Soldiers had deployed in the area and nearby streets were deserted.

The correspondent said he saw an armored personnel carrier driven out of the palace gates before he was ordered away by a soldier.

After dissolving parliament, Tandja went on to stage parliamentary elections in October, which led the 15-nation West African regional bloc ECOWAS to suspend Niger's membership. The European Union suspended development aid and the United States imposed sanctions.

ECOWAS leaders meeting in Abuja on Tuesday urged all involved in the interim administration, including the military "not to put themselves up as candidates in the next elections".

Talks between Niger's government and the opposition to end the political standoff were suspended last week, having repeatedly stalled since they began on Dec. 21.

We heard automatic gunfire and then large detonations. The house was shaking. It lasted about a half hour, non-stop

Claire Deschamps, one French national living in Niamey