ABUJA – Niger’s new military leaders accused France of amassing forces for a conceivable military intervention in the nation following the coup in July. French President Emmanuel Macron stated Sunday that he would most effective take motion at the call for of deposed Nigerien chief Mohamed Bazoum.
Niger’s junta spokesman, Maj. Amadou Abdramane, stated that France could also be taking into consideration participating in such an intervention with the Economic Community of West African States, a regional bloc referred to as ECOWAS.
“France continues to deploy its forces in several ECOWAS countries as part of preparations for an aggression against Niger,” Abdramane stated overdue Saturday in a observation broadcast on state tv.
Macron stated he would not immediately reply to the junta’s declare when requested about it after the Group of 20 summit.
“If we redeploy anything, it will only be at the demand of Bazoum and in coordination with him, not with those people who are holding a president hostage,” he stated.
Macron, then again, added that France “fully” helps the place of ECOWAS, which has stated it is considering a military intervention as an way to reinstate Bazoum as president.
Since toppling Bazoum, the junta in Niger, a former French colony, has leveraged anti-French sentiment amongst the inhabitants — asking the French ambassador and troops to depart — to shore up its make stronger in resistance to regional and world force to reinstate the president. The nation have been a strategic spouse of France and the West in the battle in opposition to rising jihadi violence in the conflict-ridden Sahel area, the arid expanse beneath the Sahara Desert.
The junta spokesman stated that France has deployed military plane and armored cars in international locations like Ivory Coast, Senegal and Benin for such an aggression, a declare that The Associated Press could not independently test.
“This is why the National Council for the Protection of the Fatherland and the transitional government launch a solemn appeal to the great people of Niger to be vigilant and never to demobilize until the inevitable departure of French troops from our territory,” he stated.
French military spokesperson Col. Pierre Gaudilliere, in the meantime, stated Thursday that there’s now “a little less” than its 1,500 troops in Niger who have been running with Nigerien safety forces to beat back the jihadi violence.
All French actions had been suspended since the coup, “therefore, declarations that have been made (earlier by the French) are about exploring what we’re going to do with these capabilities,” Gaudilliere stated.
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Angela Charlton contributed to this file from Paris.