Paris “strongly condemns the coup against the civil and democratic authorities” of Niger and calls for the “release of President Mohamed Bazoum and his family”, kidnapped by the putschists, the French Foreign Ministry said Thursday. “We call for respect and the immediate restoration of the integrity of Niger’s democratic institutions,” continued the Quai d’Orsay, which clarified that it “supports regional efforts for an urgent exit from the crisis that respects the Nigerien democratic framework and allow the immediate restoration of civil authority”.
Catherine Colonna, Minister of Foreign Affairs, also clarified that France does not consider the “attempted” coup to be “final”.
The Nigerien army on Thursday granted its support to the putschist soldiers who have sequestered President Bazoum for more than twenty-four hours in the presidency in Niamey and who have suspended the institutions and announced the closure of the borders. The Nigerien head of state affirmed, during telephone exchanges with Emmanuel Macron, to be “in good health”.
The putschists accused France of having “overridden” this last measure by landing a military plane in Niamey. “The A400M plane that landed on the night of July 26-27 had left before the decision to close the borders and had an official flight plan that had been validated with the military authorities at the airport,” said a diplomatic source. French.
According to this source, the situation remains “still very confused” on the ground. Paris had contacts with the sequestered President Bazoum, she adds. This source repeated that the safety of the thousand French people living in Niger was the “priority” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and called for “vigilance”.
Although pro-coup protesters waved Russian flags on Thursday, amid growing Moscow influence in the Sahel via Wagner’s mercenaries, the diplomatic source said Paris had “no evidence” of involvement any of this paramilitary organization in the coup. “But Russia has a good history of opportunistic use of this kind of situation,” she added.
Niger, a poor country with a history of coups, was one of France’s last allies in the Sahel, a region plagued by instability, precariousness and jihadist attacks. The coup in Niamey is the third in this area since 2020, after the arrival of soldiers in power in Mali and Burkina Faso. France, which ended the Barkhane counterterrorism operation and withdrew from Mali under pressure from the Bamako junta, currently has 1,500 troops deployed in Niger.
