2023-09-24 22:14:55
The president of France, Emmanuel Macronannounced this Sunday “an orderly exit between now and the end of the year” of the French military contingent in Nigerestimated at about 1,500 soldiersdue to the coup d’état that overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum in July and put a military junta in charge of the country.
In an interview with TF1 and France 2, Macron noted that France will be “always available” to help Africa in the fight against jihadist terrorism, as long as it is at the request of democratically elected governments or regional organizations.
“France-Africa is over (a geopolitical concept that reflected the influence of Paris in its former African colonies), when there are coups d’état we do not intervene,” he asserted.
NSince 2022, Iger has hosted a good part of the remaining troops of the French anti-jihadist operation Barkhanewhich had been transferred from Mali, where a military junta in power allied to Russia flatly rejected the French presence in its territory.
“We have been there because Niger asked us, Burkina Faso, Mali, to help them fight the terrorism in their territories. Today those countries have been victims of coups d’état. Just today I spoke with President Bazoum, who is now detained because he was carrying out ambitious reforms,” Macron explained.
France added, “has decided to put an end to military cooperation with Niger“. The French head of state announced that in “the next few hours” the French ambassador in Niger “will return” to Paris.
The French contingent in Niger, a country in which France also has economic interests in uranium, is distributed in the capital, Niamey, in Ouallam, to the north, and in Ayorou, near the border with Mali.
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