2023-08-29 05:45:07
Emmanuel Macron during the conference of ambassadors at the Elysée Palace, August 28, 2023. TERESA SUAREZ / AFP
The coup in Niger, devastating for France’s commitment to the Sahel, is weighing on Emmanuel Macron’s diplomatic return. This summer, the Head of State was forced to follow the developments caused by the military coup on July 26 against one of Paris’ closest allies on the African continent, President Mohamed Bazoum. , kidnapped since with his family. While the Nigerien putschists are increasing their pressure on Paris, Mr. Macron tried, on Monday August 28, at the opening of the 29th conference of French ambassadors at the Elysée, to defend at all costs the presence of France in a country at the heart of its military posture in Africa. Without abandoning any of the firmness displayed since the putsch, even if it means attacking the new regime.
“The weakness that some have shown with regard to previous putschs has nourished regional vocations. There is an epidemic of putschs throughout the Sahel”, said the French president, referring to the successive military coups that have taken place over the past three years in Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea and then Niger. A way of showing that France continues to hope for the return of President Bazoum to business in Niamey and intends to maintain its presence in the country, against the advice of the junta in power. In Niger, “our policy is simplehe added. We do not recognize the putschists, we support a president who has not resigned, alongside whom we remain committed. And we support a diplomatic solution, or military when it decides, from ECOWAS [Communauté économique des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest] ».
Sylvain Itté, the French ambassador to Niger summoned on Friday by the junta to leave the country, was one of the few absent from the return meeting of the French ambassadors, gathered in Paris for three days. Emmanuel Macron wanted to salute his work in Niamey. For the French authorities, there is no question of Mr. Itté returning to Paris under these conditions. “I think our policy is the right one. It is based on the courage of President Bazoum, on the commitment of our ambassador in the field, who remains despite the pressures, despite all the declarations of illegitimate authorities”insisted the President of the Republic.
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Since the coup, Emmanuel Macron and his entourage consider that the situation in Niger is not similar to that which they had to face in Mali and Burkina Faso, two states from which France withdrew after the putschs. against elected presidents. “France’s position vis-à-vis the Nigerien junta was from the outset firmer than that which had been initially adopted in Mali, during the first coup in 2020, then in Burkina Faso in January 2022. While in the two previous cases, Paris had given itself a chance to work with the putschists, in Niger, relations were strained in just a few days”sums up Elie Tenenbaum, director of the Center for Security Studies at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI). “While the United States has remained more withdrawn in its denunciation of the junta – and does not formally speak of a ‘coup’ – the rejection of France by the new authorities in Niger is also the result of this approach. differentiated”adds the researcher.
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