2023-08-26 20:40:00
“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. – /AFP
Supporters of the military who took power in Niamey met on Saturday August 26 in the Seyni Kountché stadium, the largest in Niger. Some 20,000 people gathered to support the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP), the military regime that emerged from a coup. Nigerian, Algerian and Russian flags dotted the stands.
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 a « invitation » of the Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs but also for “other actions of the French government contrary to the interests of Niger”. Mr. Itté was given forty-eight hours to leave this country.
The CNSP, which is now in power, headed by General Abdourahamane Tiani, has since taken France, the former colonial power, as its main target. ” 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. “You are going to chase them away”he said, adding however: “To hunt them do not go to their embassy (…) after everyone goes home, they will eventually leave. »
Paris countered by saying that “the putschists do not have the authority to make this request, the approval of the ambassador emanating only from the legitimate elected authorities of Niger”those of President Mohamed Bazoum.
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.
Diplomatic efforts
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 at ” the sale “ of France, which has 1,500 soldiers in Niger. The latter, before the coup, participated in the fight against the jihadist groups which have bloodied this country and a large part of the Sahel for years.
The decision to expel the French ambassador is the culmination of a month of demonstrations, decisions and declarations hostile to French politics since the coup against Mr. Bazoum, still detained with part of his family.
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