According to his doctor, Niger’s president is in “good spirits” despite being kept in “difficult” conditions by the junta that toppled him.
Mohamed Bazoum, his son, and his wife have been detained in the basement of his Niamey mansion since the coup on July 26.
“Living conditions remain difficult, with electricity still cut off,” the doctor was quoted as saying by RFI, the French public radio station.
The visit was permitted as international pressure mounted for his release.
According to RFI, it was the president’s first outside communication since he was deposed.
Mr Bazoum, 63, is said to have lost “worrying” weight, while his 20-year-old son, who has a chronic medical problem, is also said to have been denied care.
“The doctor was able to talk to the Head of State, as well as his wife and son,” RFI reported. “All are well, he said. The doctor was also able to bring them food and medicines.”
“Following the visit, President Bazoum’s family said they were relieved,” the radio station added.
The junta’s move to bring in the family doctor, led by General Abdourahmane Tchiani, appears to be in response to public condemnation of the president’s arrest since the coup.
Volker Turk, the UN human rights chief, condemned the imprisonment circumstances as brutal, degrading, and in breach of international human rights law.
His daughter Zazia, 34, who was on vacation in France during the coup, told the Guardian this week that her father, mother, and brother were living on rice and pasta since they didn’t have clean water or electricity.
She claimed that because there was no power, fresh food was rotting in the fridge.
“The situation of my family is very difficult currently,” she told the newspaper. “They say they will keep fighting, but it’s hard to see our family in this situation and they can’t go out.”
On July 26, the Niger military deposed the democratically elected president in a coup.
Similar military takeovers occurred in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, amid an Islamist insurgency and increased Russian influence in the Sahel region through its mercenary company, Wagner.
Despite his confinement, Mr Bazoum was able to write a piece for The Washington Post in which he stated that he was a hostage and that the coup would have “devastating consequences for our country, our region, and the entire world.”
More than a week has gone since US Vice President Joe Biden urged for Mr Bazoum’s “immediate release” and the “preservement of Niger’s hard-won democracy.”
The time set by Ecowas, a power group of West African governments, for the coup leaders to step down, had passed.
Its threats of military action were not carried out, and the junta continues to disregard calls for the president’s release.
On Saturday, Ecowas stated that it wanted to deploy a commission to Niger to talk with coup leaders.
