Niger: Macron announces withdrawal of France’s armed forces

France’s president wants to withdraw French armed forces from Niger. Military cooperation with the African country will be ended and the French soldiers stationed there should return by the end of the year, Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday evening in an interview with the television channels TF1 and France 2.

At the end of July, the presidential guard in Niger deposed the head of state Mohamed Bazoum in a military coup. The West African country with its 25 million inhabitants has recently been an important partner for France in its fight against terrorism in the Sahel zone. Paris has around 2,500 soldiers deployed in Niger and neighboring Chad. The new ruler in Niger is the commander of the elite unit, General Abdourahamane Tiani, who suspended the constitutional order.

France wants to withdraw soldiers and ambassadors from Niger

The French ambassador Sylvain Itté should also return to France, Macron said. At the end of August, the coup plotters had already demanded the diplomat’s departure – an ultimatum that France did not recognize on the grounds that his accreditation came from the deposed elected Nigerien representatives. In mid-September, Macron denounced that the ambassador and his staff were being held “hostage”. The former colonial power does not recognize the new government – as do other Western and African states.

As French media unanimously reported on Sunday, the military government closed its airspace exclusively to French aircraft on Saturday. Niger lifted the lockdown imposed for several weeks after the coup on September 4th.

Before the coup, France had actively supported President Bazoum’s government in the fight against jihadist militias. The former colonial power had to withdraw its troops after the military coups in the neighboring countries of Mali and Burkina Faso. Niger was considered the West’s last ally in the region.