France to pull troops out of Niger following coup, says Macron
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Niger's junta supporters taking part in a demonstration in front of a French army base in capital Niamey on Aug 11, 2023.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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PARIS – France is to end its military cooperation with Niger and withdraw its 1,500 troops tasked with battling Islamist rebels in the Sahel region following a July coup in the West African country,
Mr Macron said the troops will pull out by the end of 2023, a move that deals a hammer blow to France’s counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel and France’s influence in the region.
Nonetheless, Mr Macron said that France, the former colonial power in Niger, will “not be held hostage by the putschists”, whom he has refused to recognise as the legitimate authority in the country.
“We will consult with the putschists because we want things to happen calmly,” Mr Macron said in an interview with France’s TF1 and France 2 television stations.
France’s ambassador to Niger is being pulled out and will arrive back in France in the next few hours, Mr Macron added.
France’s 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 regionwide 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, has become the epicentre of anti-French protests since the July 26 coup.
Groups have regularly gathered on the streets to call for the exit of troops stationed in the capital. On one Saturday in September, tens of thousands rallied against France, slitting the throat of a goat dressed in French colours and carrying coffins draped in French flags.
At the same event, some people carried pro-Russian signs.
Mr Macron said he still regards democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, currently held prisoner by the coup leaders, as the country’s legitimate leader and has informed him of his decision. REUTERS
