France bows to Niger Junta, to withdraw troops, ambassador

 

France will withdraw its 1,500 soldiers from Niger by end of the year, following a July 26 coup in the country, President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

 

France will also withdraw its ambassador, Sylvain Itte in the next few hours, Macron added.

 

He said France, Niger’s former colonial master, refused to “be held hostage by the putchists”.

 

Observers said the move dealt a huge blow to French influence and counter-insurgency operations in the Sahel region.

 

France’s exit, which comes after weeks of pressure from the junta and popular demonstrations, is likely to exacerbate Western concerns over Russia’s expanding influence in Africa.

 

The Russian mercenary force Wagner already present in Niger’s neighbour Mali.

 

The French president has refused to recognise the junta as Niger’s legitimate authority but said Paris would coordinate troop withdraw with the coup leaders.

 

“We will consult with the putschists because we want things to be orderly,” Macron said in an interview with France’s TF1 and France 2 television stations.

 

French nuclear power plants source a small amount – less than 10% – of their uranium from Niger, with France’s state-owned Orano operating a mine in Niger’s north.

 

Macron said he still regarded democratically elected President Mohammed Bazoum, currently held prisoner by the coup leaders, as Niger’s legitimate leader and had informed him of his decision.

 

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 President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.

 

“This is a historic moment, which speaks to the determination and will of the Nigerien people,” the Niger statement added.

 

Earlier Sunday the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) said on its website that the military rulers had banned “French aircraft” from flying over the country’s airspace.

 

It was not clear if this would affect the ambassador being flown out.

 

French influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa in recent years, just as popular vitriol has grown.

 

Its forces have been kicked out of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso since coups in those countries, reducing its role in a region-wide fight against deadly Islamist insurgencies.

 

Until the coup, Niger had remained a key security partner of France and the United States, which have used it as a base to fight an Islamist insurgency in West and Central Africa’s wider Sahel region.

 

France’s military base in Niger’s capital, Niamey, had become the epicentre of anti-French protests since the July 26 coup.

 

Groups have regularly gathered on the street outside to call for the exit of troops stationed in the capital. On one Saturday this month, tens of thousands rallied against France, slitting the throat of a goat dressed in French colours and carrying coffins draped in French flags.

 

Pro-coup demonstrators in Niamey have waved Russian flags, adding to Western countries’ fears that Niger could follow Mali’s lead and replace their troops with Wagner fighters.