Supporters of the Nigerien junta take part in a demonstration in front of a French army base in Niamey, Niger, August 11, 2023. REUTERS/Mahamadou Hamidou/File Photo Purchase license rights
NIAMEY, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Niger’s military junta, which seized power in a bang on July 26, said on Friday that he had ordered the French ambassador, Sylvain Itte, to leave the country within 48 hours as relations between the West African country and its former colonial ruler deteriorated further.
Like recent coups in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, the military takeover of Niger came amid a rising tide of anti-French sentiment, with some locals accusing the European country of interfering in their affairs.
In a statement, the junta-appointed foreign ministry said the decision to expel the ambassador was a response to actions taken by the French government that were “contrary to Niger’s interests.”
He said these included the envoy’s refusal to respond to an invitation to meet Niger’s new foreign minister.
The French Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Seemingly official statements appearing to show Niger ordering the US ambassador and the German ambassador to leave the country in similar terms to the statement about the French envoy were shared widely online on Friday.
The US State Department said on Friday that it had been informed by Niger that this had not been issued by its Foreign Ministry. “No such request has been made to the United States government,” he stated.
A junta source and a Nigerian security source said only the French ambassador had been asked to leave.
The coup has brought Niger’s longstanding relationship with France to breaking point and this latest move raises further doubts about the future of joint military efforts to fight an Islamist insurgency in the conflict-torn Sahel region.
France has called for President Mohamed Bazoum to return to office following his ouster and has said it would support the efforts of the West African regional bloc. ECOWAS will annul the coup.
Nor has it officially acknowledged the junta’s decision in early August to revoke a series of military agreements with France, saying they had been signed with the “legitimate authorities” in Niger.
The deterioration in relations between Niger and France echoes the post-coup events in Mali and Burkina Faso, which expelled French forces and severed long-standing ties.
Niger is strategically important as one of the world’s largest uranium producers and as a base for French, US and other foreign troops that are helping to fight Islamist militant groups in the region.
Information from Boureima Balima; Additional reporting by Benoit Van Overstraeten and Costas Pitas; Written by Anait Miridzhanian and Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Rosalba O’Brien
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