2023-08-26 20:34:26
Some 20,000 people gathered in Niamey on Saturday to support the military regime resulting from a coup, the day after its 48-hour ultimatum given to the French ambassador to Niger to leave.
Supporters of the military who took power met in the Seyni Kountché stadium, the largest in Niger, with Nigerien, Algerian and Russian flags dotting the stands.
The “true” independence
Ramatou Ibrahim Boubacar, a model, adorned herself with Nigerian flags from head to toe. “We have the right to choose the partners we want, France must respect this choice,” she said. “For sixty years, we have never been independent, we have only been so since the day of the coup d’etat” of July 26 which overthrew the elected president Mohamed Bazoum, she believes, before launching: ” So we are 100% behind the CNSP”.
The National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP) which is now in power, headed by General Abdourahamane Tiani, has since taken France, the former colonial power, as its preferred target.
Manifestation anti-France
“The fight will not stop until the day there are no longer any French soldiers in Niger,” CNSP member Colonel Ibro Amadou told the crowd. “It is you who are going to drive them out,” he said, adding however: “To drive them out, do not go to their embassy (…) after everyone returns home, they will end up leaving”.
This new rally in support of the CNSP takes place the day after its decision to expel the French ambassador to Niger, Sylvain Itté, for not having responded to an “invitation” from the Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs but also for ” other acts of the French government contrary to the interests of Niger”. Sylvain Itté was given 48 hours to leave this country.
Paris replied by asserting that “the putschists do not have the authority to make this request, the ambassador’s approval emanating only from the legitimate elected authorities of Niger”, those of President Mohamed Bazoum.
ECOWAS relies on diplomacy
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decided after the coup to impose heavy economic and financial sanctions on Niger, suspended from this organization, and also threatened to intervene militarily in order to to reinstate Mohamed Bazoum in his functions.
However, efforts for a diplomatic solution continue. Algerian emissaries visited the region and, on Saturday, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Molly Phee, met with ECOWAS officials in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, which holds the presidency.
The new masters of Niamey have accused ECOWAS of being in the “pay” of France, which has 1,500 soldiers in Niger. The latter, before the coup, took part in the fight against the jihadist groups which have bloodied this country and a large part of the Sahel for years.
A month of tension
The decision to expel the French ambassador is the culmination of a month of demonstrations, decisions and statements hostile to French politics since the coup against Mohamed Bazoum, still detained with part of his family.
Four days after the military seized power, hundreds of their supporters demonstrated in front of the French embassy in Niamey, causing damage there.
The demonstrators were dispersed with tear gas and the regime accused France of using weapons, which the French government categorically denied.
“Destabilize”
On August 3, the new masters of Niamey denounced a series of military agreements with France, a decision that Paris ignored, recognizing only Mohamed Bazoum as Niger’s legitimate ruler.
The soldiers also accused France of having repeatedly violated its closed air space on the decision of the regime and of having “liberated terrorists”, in the context, in their eyes, of “a real plan to destabilize (their ) country “. Accusations again vigorously rejected by Paris.
Several demonstrations of support for the soldiers who took power were each time punctuated by slogans hostile to France and ECOWAS, Russia – which benefits from the hostility towards Paris in the Sahel – being as for she praised and applauded.
Military Niger follows in the footsteps of Mali and Burkina Faso, where there is no longer a French ambassador.
These two countries, also led respectively since 2020 and 2022 by soldiers who have seized power by force and faced with jihadist violence, have shown solidarity with the generals of Niamey, saying they are ready to fight alongside the Nigerien army in the event of of ECOWAS intervention.
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