Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside a French military base in Niger’s capital, Niamey, on Saturday demanding that its troops leave in the wake of a military coup that has widespread popular support, but which Paris refuses to recognize.
The July 26 coup — one of eight in West and Central Africa since 2020 — has sucked in global powers concerned about a shift to military rule across the region.
Most impacted is France, whose influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa over the past few years just as popular vitriol has grown. Its forces have been kicked out of neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso since coups in those countries, reducing its role in a region-wide fight against deadly militant insurgencies.
Photo: AFP
Anti-French sentiment has risen in Niger since the coup, but soured further last week when France ignored the junta’s order for its French Ambassador to Niger Sylvain Itte to leave.
Police have been instructed to expel him, the junta said.
Outside the military base on Saturday, protesters slit the throat of a goat dressed in French colors and carried coffins draped in French flags as a line of Nigerien soldiers looked on. Others carried signs calling for France to leave.
Reuters reporters said it was the biggest gathering yet since the coup, suggesting that support for the junta — and derision of France — was not waning.
“We are ready to sacrifice ourselves today, because we are proud,” demonstrator Yacouba Issoufou said. “They plundered our resources and we became aware. So they’re going to get out.”
By early evening local time, there had been no apparent outbreaks of violence.
France had cordial relations with ousted Niger president Mohamed Bazoum and has about 1,500 troops stationed in Niger.
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