2023-09-15 21:04:52
French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that the French ambassador to Niger was being taken “hostage” by the ruling military and was only eating “military rations.” “In Niger, as I speak to you, we have an ambassador and diplomatic members who are literally taken hostage at the French embassy,” declared the head of state during a trip to Semur-en -Auxois. “We are preventing food from being delivered. He eats with military rations,” he added, in an allusion to the soldiers who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum and took power on July 26.
The military, who overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum and took power on July 26, ordered the expulsion of the French ambassador at the end of August, after Paris refused to comply with an ultimatum demanding his departure. France has since continued to oppose this departure, arguing that this government had no authority to base such a request. Ambassador Sylvain Itté “no longer has the possibility of going out, he is persona non grata and we refuse to allow him to eat,” insisted Emmanuel Macron.
Asked about a possible repatriation of the ambassador to Paris, the head of state reiterated: “I will do what we agree with President Bazoum because he is the legitimate authority and I speak to him every day.”
The French ambassador to Niger is “working” and will stay as long as Paris wishes, said Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna. “He is very useful to us through his contacts, through those of his team, there is still a small team around him,” she said on LCI Friday evening. “He stays as long as we want him to stay.” It is a decision that belongs to the President of the Republic,” she insisted.
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