Emmanuel Macron announced the return to Paris of the ambassador to Niamey and the withdrawal of French troops from Niger, but also the end of all military cooperation with the country.
Diplomatic relations which are becoming more and more strained. During his interview given on Sunday on TF1 and France 2, and co-broadcast by BFMTV, Emmanuel Macron announced the return to Paris of the ambassador in Niamey and the withdrawal of French troops from Niger “by the end of the year”.
“France has decided to bring back its ambassador. In the coming hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France,” declared the President of the Republic during this television interview.
“Historic moment”
In the process, the military in power in Niamey celebrated on Sunday evening “a new step towards the sovereignty of Niger”.
“The French troops as well as the French ambassador will leave Nigerien soil by the end of the year. It is a historic moment which testifies to the determination and will of the Nigerien people,” they indicated in a press release read on national television.
“Any person, any institution or structure whose presence threatens the interests and projections of our country will have to leave the land of our ancestors whether they like it or not,” the text continues.
End of military cooperation
For several weeks, France had refused to give in to the “injunctions” of the military in power. She continues, as President Macron repeated on Sunday evening, to consider the overthrown president Mohamed Bazoum, detained since the end of July with his wife and son at the presidential residence, as “the only legitimate authority” in the country.
But Paris, which was counting on an intervention by ECOWAS (community of West African States) to restore Mohamed Bazoum and constitutional order, had few options left to maintain itself in Niger.
“We are ending our military cooperation with the de facto authorities of Niger, because they no longer want to fight against terrorism,” the French president also announced.
This withdrawal of the 1,500 French soldiers based in Niger, which before the July 26 coup was one of Paris’s last allies in the Sahel, comes after those from Mali and Burkina Faso, where France has already been pushed towards exit by hostile juntas.