Several thousand people gathered on Saturday September 2 in Niamey and Ouallam (south-west) to demand the departure of French forces from Niger, a request from the military regime that came to power by a coup d’etat at the end of July, noted journalists from Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In the capital, the rally was held near a Nigerien base housing French soldiers, at the call of several civil society coalitions hostile to the French military presence. “French Army get away from us!” “, could we read in particular on the sign of a demonstrator.

The demonstrators who arrived on Saturday morning were joined by another procession in the afternoon to form a dense crowd on the “Escadrille” roundabout, one of the main places for this kind of gathering that has taken place in Niamey since the coup. of State of July 26. Another demonstration took place in Ouallam (south-west) in front of a military base, headquarters of the anti-jihadist operation Almahaou, where Nigerien and French soldiers live together, 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,” one of the protesters said into a megaphone. Diplomatic tensions are at their height between the ruling military regime and France, which does not recognize their legitimacy, while 1,500 French soldiers are stationed in Niger to participate in the anti-jihadist fight under bilateral military agreements.

Immunity withdrawn from the ambassador

On August 3, the generals who took power in a coup had denounced several of these agreements. These texts all contain different notices for their effective end, one of which, relating to a 2012 text, was one month, according to the military.

At the end of August, during a meeting in Niamey, Colonel Ibro Amadou, a member of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP, perpetrators of the coup) declared that “the fight will only stop the day there will be no more French soldiers in Niger”. Niger also withdrew the immunity and diplomatic 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 High Court of Niamey. of Friday, consulted by AFP.

According to this last document, these decisions are justified in particular by France’s “unjustified hostility” towards Niger and the fact that Mr. Itté’s presence on Nigerien territory presents “serious risks of disturbing public order”. .

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron praised Mr. Itté’s work and repeated that he was still stationed at the embassy in Niamey. According to Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, the premises of an embassy are “inviolable” and agents of the state in which they are located are not permitted “to enter therein except with the consent of the head of the mission”.