In “the months to come,” the president stated, French troops will leave the country in west Africa.
After an anti-French coup was successful, France will withdraw its diplomats and soldiers from Niger, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday. By the end of the year, around 1,500 soldiers will have relocated.
“France has made the decision to recall its ambassador. Our ambassador and a number of other ambassadors will return to France in the upcoming hours, Macron said on France 2 television on Sunday. He added, saying that “and we will put an end to our military cooperation with the Niger authorities,” adding that French troops will return home in “the months to come.”
Mohamed Bazoum, the pro-French president of Niger, was deposed in a military takeover in July. The coup leaders promptly suspended a military cooperation agreement with the French government and requested that French troops leave the nation, capitalising on broad popular anger with France’s decade-long anti-insurgent operation in the area.
After Paris refused, the military authorities of Niger insisted that Sylvain Itte, the French ambassador, leave in August and revoked his diplomatic immunity. Macron alleged last week that Itte was being held “hostage” by the Nigerian military, who were preventing food deliveries to the French embassy.
There are now about 1,500 French soldiers stationed in Niger as Paris has paused military operations in Burkina Faso and Mali due to parallel coup d’états in both countries. Only a few dozen French soldiers will be left in Chad after the pullout is complete, despite the fact that the French station in Niger was one of the biggest in the Sahel.
Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso declared the formation of a military alliance last week as French influence declined in the region. The signing of the defence accord formalises an informal agreement between Mali and Burkina Faso to support Niger if the regional ECOWAS bloc invades the country following the coup.
The Alliance of Sahel States, as the trio of countries will be known, will cooperate in the fight against terrorism and border security, according to Mali’s Minister of Defence Abdoulaye Diop, who spoke to Reuters.
Macron stressed that France will continue to recognise Bazoum as Niger’s “sole legitimate authority” despite caving in to the coup plotters’ demands.
