The French foreign ministry maintains that the Niamey coup leaders have “no authority” to demand Sylvain Itte leave the nation.
After a 48-hour deadline for him to depart expired on Monday, the new military administration in Niger said that it had revoked the diplomatic immunity of France’s ambassador Sylvain Itte and had instructed police to deport him.
Niamey’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated Itte “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the French Embassy” in a statement sent to Paris on Thursday.
The military leaders who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26 in a coup ordered the French ambassador two days to leave the nation last week.
The Nigerien Foreign Ministry announced on Friday that the envoy had declined an offer to meet with the new leaders. Additionally, it listed “other actions” of the French government that were “contrary” to Niger’s interests as justifications for the envoy’s dismissal.
The ambassador will stay in Niamey despite pressure from “illegitimate authorities,” according to France, which has declined to return the diplomat from its former territory.
French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed on Monday that only ousted President Bazoum was the country’s legitimate leader.
Macron praised Itte and other French ambassadors for their dedication despite the “difficult situations” Paris has recently encountered in several of its former colonies.
The envoy’s “diplomatic cards and visas,” as well as those of his family members, “are cancelled,” according to the Nigerien foreign ministry’s most recent announcement, which was released after the deadline of August 28 had passed.
The ministry continued, “The police have been ordered to carry out his expulsion.
The leaders of the coup cannot order the ambassador to leave, the French foreign ministry insisted on Thursday. Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere, a spokesman for the French general staff, also issued a warning that Paris’ forces “are ready to respond to any increase in tension [that] would undermine French military and diplomatic influence in Niger.”
