Niger: Macron withdraws all 2,500 soldiers

Two months after the military coup in Niger, France announced that it would withdraw its ambassador and armed forces from the West African country. President Emmanuel Macron said, in an interview on the TF1 and France 2 television channels, on Sunday evening, that military cooperation will end. He added that the soldiers should return by the end of the year.

At the end of last July, the Presidential Guard in Niger overthrew the head of state, Mohamed Bazoum, in a military coup. The new ruler is General Abderrahmane Tiani, who suspended the constitutional order. France, the former colonial power, does not recognize the new government, as do other Western and African countries.

The ambassador was essentially held hostage

The very poor African country with a population of about 26 million was an important partner of France in its fight against terrorism in the Sahel until the coup. Paris has about 2,500 soldiers deployed in neighboring Niger and Chad. Germany also maintains a military air transport base in the capital, Niamey, from which the German army is currently withdrawing from Mali.

French Ambassador Sylvain Etty is also expected to return to France soon, Macron said. At the end of August, the coup plotters actually demanded that the diplomat leave the country, but France ignored the ultimatum. Since then, according to Macron, the ambassador and his staff have been held “hostage.”

The coup plotters are friends of chaos

Macron said in the interview that France was not in Niger to be a hostage of the coup plotters. The coup plotters are friends of chaos. Attacks by Islamic jihadists are now increasing, claiming lives every day in Mali. He is concerned about this area. France has shouldered its responsibility, sometimes alone, and he is proud of the French soldiers. But one is not responsible for the policies of these countries.

As French media unanimously reported on Sunday, the military government specifically closed Nigerien airspace to French aircraft on Saturday. Niger had previously lifted the complete lockdown it imposed for several weeks after the coup on September 4.

France, the former colonial power, was forced to withdraw its forces after military coups in the neighboring countries of Mali and Burkina Faso. Niger was considered the West’s last ally in the region.

(dpa/y)View comments