By Ayo Yusuf
After a month of tensions in which France refused to recall its ambassador to Niger is Republic on the grounds that an illegal junta had no right to make such a demand, the French government announced on Wednesday that the diplomat has finally landed in Paris.
Ambassador Sylvain Itte was forced to leave Niamey when the post-coup regime in the West African country harassed him out of Niger after he stubbornly refused to obey a previous demand to do so when the junta cut ties with France.
The return of the ambassador, comes two months after the coup in Niger ousted its pro-Paris president, Mohamed Bazoum and soured relations between France and its former colony, with Niger’s new rulers demanding his departure.
In a written statement Wednesday the ministry said that Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna had met with Itte “to thank him and his teams for his work in the service of our country under difficult conditions”.
Niger’s military leaders – who overthrew the democratically elected president, Bazoum, on July 26 – told Ambassador Itte to leave the country after the coup and took away the envoy’s diplomatic immunity and visa.
But a 48-hour ultimatum for him to go, issued in August, passed with him still in place, as the French government refused to comply or to recognise the military regime as legitimate.
Paris had said that only Bazoum’s deposed government could order the envoy out.
But on Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced in a TV interview that Itte would leave “in the next hours” although he gave no details.
Macron on Wednesday reiterated his support for Bazoum. His office said he told Hassoumi Massaoudou, foreign minister in the overthrown government, that France would continue to work “for a return to the constitutional order in Niger”.
