February 2010 Coup
On 18 February 2010, during a government meeting at the presidential palace, rebel soldiers attacked and deposed Tandja in a coup d'état, establishing a military junta called the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD). Tandja was believed to be held at a military barracks on the outskirts of Niamey.
The junta kept Tandja in detention while it organized a political transition. He was held under house arrest and then moved to a prison in January 2011. Tandja's mother, having reached a very advanced age, died in March 2011.
The transition ended with the swearing-in of an elected President—Mahamadou Issoufou, who led the opposition to Tandja during the 10 years of the latter's presidency—in April 2011. A month later, the Niamey Court of Appeal threw out all of the legal charges against Tandja, and he was released on 10 May 2011. MNSD officials, including party leader Seyni Oumarou, promptly went to his home to greet and congratulate him, but was not immediately clear whether he planned to return to active politics.
Read more about this topic: Mamadou Tandja
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