Protesters in Niger. Photo: BBC.
After massive protests against the French military presence in Niger, France announced that it will withdraw its ambassador and troops from the African country.
“In the next few hours, our ambassador in Niger, together with diplomatic staff, will return to France,” French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Sunday in an interview with the TF1 and France2 channels, amid tensions between the new Nigerien authorities and France.
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Macron added that the final withdrawal of French troops deployed in Niger will be organized in the coming weeks. “The French military presence will end at the end of this year,” said the French president.
Relations between Niger and France have been deteriorating since a group of Nigerien generals declared, on July 26, the dismissal of the president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, an ally of France and the West, for mismanagement and “high treason.”
🔴 Niger
"Dans les prochaines heures, notre ambassadeur au Niger va revenir en France (…) Les soldats français, vont eux, quitter le Niger, d'ici la fin de l'année" annonce Emmanuel Macron pic.twitter.com/aMEzmYbDC2— TF1Info (@TF1Info) September 24, 2023
The military junta urged France to withdraw its forces from the country and gave a 48-hour ultimatum for France to leave Niger.
However, Macron claims that France does not recognize the new president of Niger, Abdourahamane Tchiani, and declared in early September that a possible redeployment of French troops to Niger would take place only at the request of the country’s deposed president, Bazoum.
At the end of August, Niger ordered the expulsion of the French ambassador Sylvain Itté, but France refused to carry it out.
Hours before Macron’s announcement, Niger’s administration had reported the closure of the country’s airspace to French planes.
Since the change of power on July 26 in Niger, the French military base in Niamey (capital of the African country) has become the epicenter of anti-French protests calling for the withdrawal of French troops.
French influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa in recent years while popular unrest has increased. For this reason, French forces have also been expelled from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso. Currently, France has 1,500 soldiers in Niger, where it also maintains significant economic interests, in particular, those related to the exploitation of uranium and gold deposits.
(HispanTV)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
