…ends military cooperation before December
As the July coup which ousted the democratically elected Nigerien president, Mohamed Bazoum, who has been held captive by the coupists lingers, French President, Emmanuel Macron, Sunday, said that France will recall its envoy to Niger, Ambassador Sylvain Itte, and other French diplomats held hostage at its Embassy by military junta.
The French president’s announcement appeared to end two months of defiance in which Paris’s ambassador had been kept in place in Niamey despite coup leaders ordering him to leave.
In his words, “France has decided to withdraw its ambassador. In the next hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France.”
He added that military cooperation was “over” and French troops would leave in “the months to come”.
France’s exit which comes after weeks of pressure from the junta and popular demonstrations, is likely to exacerbate Western concerns over Russia’s expanding influence in Africa. The Russian mercenary force Wagner is already present in Niger’s neighbour Mali.
The French president has refused to recognise the junta as Niger’s legitimate authority but said Paris would coordinate troop withdrawal with the coup leaders.
“We will consult with the putschists because we want things to be orderly,” Macron said in an interview with France’s TF1 and France 2 television stations.
France’s ambassador was also being pulled out and would return to the country in the next few hours, Macron added.
