Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in Niamey to demand the withdrawal of French armed forces from the country. The gathering took place near a Nigerien military base housing French soldiers, at the request of several civil society organizations.
The protest against the French presence in Niger remains strong. Several thousand people gathered on Saturday, September 2, in Niamey and Ouallam (southwest) to demand the departure of French forces from Niger, a request made by the military regime that came to power through a coup d’état at the end of July, according to AFP journalists.
In the capital, the gathering took place near a Nigerien base housing French soldiers, at the request of several coalitions of civil society hostile to the French military presence. “French army, leave our country!” read one protester’s sign.
Another procession joined the protesters who arrived on Saturday morning, forming a dense crowd at the “Escadrille” roundabout in the afternoon. This roundabout is one of the main locations for such gatherings that have been taking place in Niamey since the coup d’état on July 26.
“We no longer need you”
Another demonstration took place in Ouallam (southwest) in front of a military base, the headquarters of the anti-jihadist operation Almahaou, where Nigerien and French soldiers coexist, according to images broadcast on national television. “French soldiers, we have come to bring you a message to tell you that we no longer need you,” declared one of the protesters through a megaphone.
Diplomatic tensions are at their peak between the military regime in power and France, which does not recognize their legitimacy, while 1,500 French soldiers are stationed in Niger to participate in the fight against jihadism under bilateral military agreements.
On August 3, the generals who seized power through a coup d’état denounced several of these agreements. These texts all contain different notice periods for their effective termination, one of which, relating to a 2012 text, was one month, according to the military.
At the end of August, during a rally in Niamey, Colonel Ibro Amadou, a member of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Nation (CNSP, authors of the coup d’état), declared that “the fight will only end on the day when there are no more French soldiers in Niger.”
“Unjustified hostility”
Furthermore, Niger has revoked the diplomatic immunity and visa of French Ambassador Sylvain Itté and demanded his “expulsion,” according to an order from the Ministry of the Interior dated Thursday and an order from the Niamey High Court on Friday, consulted by AFP.
According to the latter document, these decisions are justified, among other things, by the “unjustified hostility” of France towards Niger and the fact that Sylvain Itté’s presence on Nigerien territory presents “serious risks of public disorder.”
During a meeting on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron praised Sylvain Itté’s work and stated that he was still in his position at the embassy in Niamey.
According to Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, embassy premises are “inviolable,” and it is not permitted for the host country’s authorities to enter them “except with the consent of the head of the mission.”
With AFP