The French military structure in Niger begins to dismantle after almost ten years present in the African country and two months after the coup d’état in the country that forced this movement. The French Ministry of Defense announced this Thursday the progressive withdrawal of military assets deployed in the area, including 1,500 soldiers, as French President Emmanuel Macron already announced two weeks ago.
France’s departure from its former colony comes after the coup d’état last July in the country. On July 26, the rebellious military took control of the Presidential Palace and detained the president, Mohamed Bazoum. They also demanded the departure of the French troops, but Paris, which does not recognize the coup government, decided to keep its ambassador in Niamey, as well as its contingent.
The fight between Paris and its former colony has lasted barely two months, while anti-French sentiment grows in the streets of the country. The departure starts now and the idea is that the 1,500 soldiers will be out before the end of the year. “The withdrawal of soldiers and military assets stationed in Niger begins this week (…) Coordination with the Nigerien soldiers is essential for the success of this maneuver. All arrangements have been made so that all movements are carried out in good order and security,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The new regime, calling itself the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP), has warned that the Nigerien Government is attentive “to ensure that this withdrawal is carried out respecting its interests and conditions.”
The withdrawal will be done progressively and will be a complex process, although Defense has not given details. This council has announced that the first to leave will be about 400 soldiers present in Ouallam, in the west of the country, on the border with Mali and Burkina Faso. This information has not been confirmed by Paris. This is the hot zone of jihadism. The French presence in the Sahel was partly justified for this reason, in the fight against these groups, but after the military coup, Paris considers that the new regime is not a reliable partner to be able to fight this battle against terrorism safely.
Most of the French military is located at the air base near Niamey airport. Paris has several military aircraft and helicopters, drones and fighters in the country. After the coup, all military collaboration agreements were broken with Niamey, which has made it clear that, from now on, they will be the ones who decide “what relations with France will be like.”
The ambassador, Sylvain Itté, arrived in Paris last week with several collaborators after almost two months barricaded in the embassy. Macron himself denounced that the military was holding him and barely giving him food, that the diplomat survived on military rations.
Niger’s departure is a reflection of France’s agony in the Sahel, an area where it has always had a lot of weight, both economically and militarily. It is the only country where France still had military agreements. The successive coups d’état in Mali and Burkina Faso, first, and Niger and Gabon, more recently, have been extinguishing its influence in this territory. In the first two, Paris had troops deployed on a mission to fight terrorism, the so-called Barkhane operation.
In just four years, six countries in the area have seen their regimes fall. In addition to those mentioned, also Sudan and Guinea. If in most cases the deposed president had been in power for decades (this is the case of Gabon), in Niger, however, the president had just been elected two years ago. For this reason, Paris has always defended the same position, which it maintains despite the departure of the military: the return to power of the overthrown president.