Paris: The coup in Niger represents a major setback for French President Emmanuel Macron, raising questions about France’s military presence in the country but also the future of his wider strategy in Africa, AFP reported qouting analysts.
The coup against Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum is the third such putsch in the region in as many years, following similar actions in Mali and Burkina Faso in 2021 and 2022 that forced the pullouts of French troops.
But the Niger coup is particularly bruising for Macron after he sought to make a special ally of Niamey, and a hub for France’s presence in the region after the Mali coup.
The situation presents Macron with a string of dilemmas as he retreats to the French presidential Mediterranean residence of Fort Bregancon for a summer holiday that is set to be dominated by the crisis.
In December 2018, Macron vowed that France would remain engaged in the fight against jihadists in the Sahel region of Africa “until the victory is complete”, a vow that now appears on shaky ground.” History repeats itself, the setbacks are accumulating,” Pascal Boniface, director of the French Institute of International and Strategic Affairs, told AFP.”
If the putschists stay in power in Niamey, it will be very difficult to leave our soldiers there.”
France has 1,500 soldiers posted in Niger, and another 1,000 in neighbouring Chad.
The leader of the coup that toppled Niger’s president said Wednesday that French citizens had no reason to leave the country, but rejected international sanctions, vowing not to bow to “threats”, AFP reported.
Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) leaders have imposed trade and financial sanctions and threatened the use of force if the junta does not restore ousted President Mohamed Bazoum by Sunday.
Responding to the international sanctions imposed in response to the coup, General Abdourahamane Tiani said the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) “rejects these sanctions as a whole and refuses to give in to any threat, wherever it comes from.