French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced that the nation would withdraw its ambassador from Niger, followed by the French military contingent in the coming months, a move welcomed by Niger’s military leaders as a “step towards sovereignty.”
Macron’s announcement came two months after a coup in the west African nation that ousted the pro-Paris president.
“France has decided to withdraw its ambassador. In the next hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France,” Macron told French television in an interview, without giving details over how that would be organized.
Photo: AFP
Macron added that military cooperation was “over” and French troops would withdraw in “the months and weeks to come,” with a full pullout “by the end of the year.”
Niger’s military rulers responded swiftly in a statement read out on national television.
“This Sunday, we celebrate a new step towards the sovereignty of Niger,” said the statement from the military rulers, who seized power by overthrowing Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26. “This is a historic moment, which speaks to the determination and will of the Nigerien people.”
The Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar earlier on Sunday said on its Web site that the military rulers had banned “French aircraft” from flying over Niger’s airspace.
It was not clear if this would affect the ambassador being flown out.
In his comments, Macron said that “in the weeks and months to come, we will consult with the putschists, because we want this to be done peacefully.”
France has about 1,500 troops in Niger as part of an anti-jihadist deployment in the Sahel region. Macron said the post-coup authorities “no longer wanted to fight against terrorism.”
Niger’s military leaders had told French Ambassador to Niger Sylvain Itte to leave the nation after they overthrew Bazoum, but a 48-hour ultimatum for him to leave, issued last month, passed with him still in place as the French government refused to comply, or to recognize the military regime as legitimate.
Macron earlier this month said that the ambassador and his staff were “literally being held hostage” in the mission, eating military rations with no food deliveries.
Macron on Sunday reaffirmed France’s position that Bazoum was being held “hostage” and remained the “sole legitimate authority” in Niger.
“He was targeted by this coup d’etat because he was carrying out courageous reforms and because there was a largely ethnic settling of scores and a lot of political cowardice,” he said.
The coup against Bazoum was the third such putsch in the region in as many years, following similar actions in Mali and Burkina Faso in 2021 and last year that also forced the pullouts of French troops, but the Niger coup is particularly bruising for Macron after he sought to make a special ally of Niamey, and a hub for France’s presence in the region following the Mali coup.
The US also has more than 1,000 troops in the nation.
Macron regularly speaks by telephone to Bazoum, who remains under house arrest in the presidential residence.
The French president has repeatedly spoken of making a historic change to France’s post-colonial imprint in Africa, but analysts say Paris is losing influence across the continent, especially in the face of a growing Chinese, Turkish and Russian presence.
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