French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday evening that his country’s ambassador to Niger would return “in the coming hours” to France and that French forces would leave this country by the end of the year, following a confrontation with the Nigerien military junta that lasted two months.
Before the July 26 coup, Niger was one of Paris’s last allies in the Sahel region. The withdrawal of the 1,500 French soldiers stationed in this country comes after the French forces were forced to leave Mali and Burkina Faso under pressure from the military who took power in these two countries.
Macron said in a televised interview on Sunday evening, “France has decided to return its ambassador. In the next few hours, our ambassador will return with a number of diplomats to France.”
After refusing for weeks to summon Ambassador Sylvain Eteh, whose departure the Nigerian military regime was demanding, the French president finally decided to put an end to this situation.
The ambassador was present with his team inside the headquarters of the French embassy. They were stripped of their diplomatic immunity and became subject to deportation as soon as they left, while their supplies of food and water were running out.
On Sunday, Niger’s ruling military junta welcomed France’s announcement of its intention to withdraw its forces from the country by the end of the year, considering this “a new step towards sovereignty.”
The Council said in a statement read on national television, “The French forces, as well as the French ambassador, will leave the territory of Niger by the end of the year. This is a historic moment that bears witness to the determination and will of the Nigerian people.”
He added, “Any person, institution, or entity whose existence threatens the interests of our country will have to leave the land of our ancestors, whether he likes it or not.”
France has so far refused to obey the “orders” of the ruling military council, and it still considers ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, who has been detained since the end of last July with his wife and son in the presidential headquarters, as “the only legitimate authority” in the country, as Macron confirmed this evening. Sunday.
Paris was relying on the intervention of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in order to return Bazoum to power and restore constitutional order, but in the end it did not find any options that would allow it to remain in Niger.
The French President announced, “We are ending our military cooperation with the de facto authorities in Niger, because they no longer want to fight terrorism.”
Since taking power, the army led by General Abderrahmane Tiani has canceled defense cooperation agreements between Paris and Niamey, claiming that the French force is “illegally” present in Niger.
Demonstrations are constantly being held in the Nigerian capital to demand the departure of French soldiers who are still present at their bases.
Macron said, “This is the end of this cooperation,” stressing that the forces will return “in an organized manner in the coming weeks and months,” noting that “we will consult with the coup plotters because we want this to happen quietly.”
After ten years of military operations to combat terrorism in the Sahel region, France currently has only a thousand soldiers in Chad.
In his speech, in which he adopted a strong tone regarding the military councils in the Sahel region, Macron confirmed that the “Barkhane operation was successful,” reiterating that Paris intervened at the request of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger. He said that “without (this intervention), most of these countries would have been controlled by… jihadists.”
He added, “We are not here to be hostages of the coup plotters. The coup plotters are friends of chaos,” noting that jihadist attacks result in “dozens of deaths daily in Mali” and that they have also resumed in Niger.
He added, “I am very concerned about this region. France, sometimes alone, has shouldered all its responsibilities and I am proud of our army. But we are not responsible for the political life of these countries.”
The ruling military regime in Niger prevented “French aircraft” from crossing the country’s airspace, which constitutes a new chapter in the recklessness of relations between Paris and Niamey since the coup of last July 26.
alarab-co-uk
