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Associated Press

President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country as a result of the coup that removed the democratically elected president.
Niger’s junta said in response that Sunday’s announcement signals a “new step towards the sovereignty” of the country.
“Imperialist and neocolonialist forces are no longer welcome on our national territory. The new era of cooperation, based on mutual respect and sovereignty is already under way,” it said in a statement.
The announcement was a significant, if expected, blow to France’s policy in Africa, with French troops having had to pull out of neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years after coups there.

France had stationed thousands of troops in the Sahel region at the request of African leaders to fight Islamic extremist groups.
France has maintained some 1,500 troops in Niger since the July coup, and had repeatedly refused an order by the new junta for its ambassador to leave, saying that France didn’t recognise the coup leaders as legitimate.
At UN, Guinea’s junta leader defends coups in Africa and rebuffs the West
But tensions had mounted in recent weeks between France and Niger, a former French colony, and Macron said recently that French diplomats were surviving on military rations as they holed up in the embassy.
Macron’s announcement came after the coup leaders issued a statement earlier Sunday that they were closing Niger’s airspace to French planes, commercial and military, so that the new leadership could “retake total control of its skies and its territory”.
The decision did not apply to other international aircraft.
Ali Sekou Ramadan, an aide to Niger’s deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, said that Bazoum requested that Macron withdraw the French ambassador, Sylvain Itte, “in order to reduce tension”.
In an interview with the France-2 and TF1 television networks, Macron said he spoke to Bazoum on Sunday and told him that “France has decided to bring back its ambassador, and in the coming hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France”.
He added: “And we will put an end to our military cooperation with the Niger authorities because they don’t want to fight against terrorism any more”.

He said the troops would be gradually pulled out, likely by the end of the year, in coordination with the coup leaders “because we want it to take place peacefully”.
He said France’s military presence was in response to a request from Niger’s government at the time. That military cooperation between France and Niger had been suspended since the coup, however.
The junta leaders claimed Bazoum’s government wasn’t doing enough to protect the country from the insurgency.
As EU’s Africa plan is undermined by coups, others sense an opportunity
The junta is now under sanctions by Western and regional African powers.
Insa Garba Saidou, a local activist who assists Niger’s new military rulers with their communications, said they would continue to monitor developments until the French ambassador leaves the country. He also demanded a clear deadline for the withdrawal of the French troops.
“This announcement from the French president announces the victory of the people of Niger. However, we are going to take it with a lot of reservation because I no longer believe in Mr Macron,” said Saidou.


The junta in August gave the French ambassador 48 hours to leave. After the deadline expired without France recalling him, the coup leaders then revoked his diplomatic immunity.
In New York on Friday, the military government that seized power in Niger accused UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres of obstructing the West African nation’s full participation at the UN’s annual meeting of world leaders in order to appease France and its allies.
Experts say that after repeated military interventions in its former colonies in recent decades, the era of France as Africa’s “gendarme” may finally be over, as the continent’s priorities shift, especially in the face of a growing Chinese, Turkish and Russian presence.
Andrew Lebovich, a research fellow with the Clingendael Institute, a think tank, said the decision marks both an acceptance of a “harsh reality for France in the region and may possibly put some limits on the US deployments in Niger, though as we have seen, the US and France have not followed exactly the same positionings in Niger”.
Gabon coup leader sworn in as president, promises ‘free, transparent elections’
Rida Lyammouri, a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank, said Niger will feel the loss of French support in its fight against violent extremist groups.
“France has been a reliable partner providing support to its operations and Niger simply doesn’t have an alternative to fill this void by the French, at least in short and mid term,” Lyammouri said.
Macron last year withdrew French troops from Mali following tensions with the ruling junta after a 2020 coup, and more recently from Burkina Faso, for similar reasons. Both African countries had asked for the French forces to leave.
France also suspended military operations with Central African Republic, accusing its government of failing to stop a “massive” anti-French disinformation campaign.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg


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Africa

France will end its military presence in Niger, withdraw ambassador following coup

Supporters of Niger’s National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) in Niamey demand the departure of the French army from Niger. Photo: AFP

Protesters in Niamey demand the departure of the French army from Niger. Photo: AFP

France’s embassy in Niamey, Niger. Photo: AFP

Emmanuel Macron says France’s ambassador to Niger ‘literally held hostage’

An armed man patrols outside the French embassy in Niamey, Niger on September 1. Photo: EPA-EFE

French President Emmanuel Macron visits Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy, France on Friday. Photo: AFP

French elected official Stephane Jullien arrested in military-run Niger

Supporters of Niger’s National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland display a French national flag with an X-mark on during a protest in Niamey on September 1 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger. Photo: AFP

At UN, Guinea’s junta leader defends coups in Africa and rebuffs the West

The head of Guinea’s junta Colonel Mamady Doumbouya defended the use of military intervention in politics. Photo: Reuters

Guinea’s military leader Mamady Doumbouya meeting with Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. Photo: Xinhua

A Guinean woman takes a picture with Guinean special forces soldier following the 2021 coup. Photo: EPA-EFE

‘Unprecedented’: UN needs to pull nearly 13,000 peacekeepers out of Mali by December 31

More than 300 UN personnel have died Mali, making MINUSMA the UN’s deadliest combat mission. File photo: AFP


This undated photograph handed out by French military shows Russian mercenaries boarding a helicopter in northern Mali. File photo: AP

A UN armoured vehicle that was hit by and an improvised explosive device. File photo: AFP

News

World

France bows to demands of Niger’s junta in the former colony after a coup upended its strategy in Africa
The French had kept about 1,500 soldiers in Niger as part of an anti-jihadist deployment in the Sahel region


French President Emmanuel Macron’s move was welcomed by Niger’s military leaders as a ‘step towards sovereignty’.


France will end its military presence in Niger, withdraw ambassador following coup

France bows to demands of Niger’s junta in the former colony after a coup upended its strategy in Africa The French had kept about 1,500 soldiers in Niger as part of an anti-jihadist deployment in the Sahel region

France bows to demands of Niger’s junta in the former colony after a coup upended its strategy in Africa

The French had kept about 1,500 soldiers in Niger as part of an anti-jihadist deployment in the Sahel region