According to the military junta that took control last week, the dissolved government of Niger has given France permission to launch attacks on the presidential residence in order to free President Mohamed Bazoum.
Bazoum has been held hostage at the palace since Wednesday, when the putsch occurred, and the junta had already issued a warning against attempts from outside nations to rescue him.
One of the coup leaders, Colonel Amadou Abdramane, stated in a statement on Monday that France, a country that supports it in its fight against jihadist insurgencies, has been looking for a way to “intervene militarily” in the situation.
According to Abdramane, “France held a meeting at the General Staff of the National Guard of Niger to obtain the necessary political and military authorizations.”
He said that Hassoumi Massoudou, the foreign minister of Niger, and Maj. Midou Guirey, the national guard’s commander, had both given the go-ahead for “carrying out strikes” in Paris.
The democratically elected Bazoum has been imprisoned and has been demanded to be released and put back in office by French President Emmanuel Macron, who also said that Paris will support regional powers in putting sanctions on the coup leaders.r
The military coup in Niger is the most recent in a string of military takeovers in former French colonies; recent years have also seen similar incidents in Burkina Faso and Mali, two countries nearby, amid a rise in anti-French sentiment.
Thousands of junta sympathisers from Niger demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Niamey on Sunday to denounce the alleged interference in domestic affairs of the country by the former colonial power. French newspaper Le Monde said that the protestors torched French flags and a plaque bearing the words “Embassy of France in Niger.”
Assaults on France and its interests in the country of West Africa would not be accepted, according to Macron, who also promised an instant retaliation. On Saturday, Paris declared that it has “immediately suspended all of its development assistance and budget support actions in Niger.”
Economic and financial sanctions have been imposed by the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has threatened to use force if the coup leaders in Niger do not restore Bazoum within seven days. In a statement, France stated that it “welcomes the decisions taken by the ECOWAS heads of state” for a “immediate return to the constitutional order in Niger under President Mohamed Bazoum.”
