President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday, September 24, said France is imminently to withdraw its ambassador from Niger, followed by the French military contingent in the next months, in the wake of the coup in the West African country that ousted the pro-Paris president. Macron's announcement appeared to end two months of French defiance over the coup, which had seen Paris keep its ambassador in place in Niamey despite him being ordered by the coup leaders to go. "France has decided to withdraw its ambassador. In the next hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France," Macron told French television in an interview, without giving details about how this would be organized. Niger's military rulers have banned "French aircraft" from flying over the country's airspace, according to the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar (ASECNA) website. It was not clear if this would affect the ambassador being flown out.
Macron added that military cooperation was "over" and French troops would withdraw in "the months and weeks to come" with a full pullout "by the end of the year". "In the weeks and months to come, we will consult with the putschists, because we want this to be done peacefully," he added. France keeps about 1,500 soldiers in Niger as part of an anti-jihadist deployment in the Sahel region. Macron said the post-coup authorities "no longer wanted to fight against terrorism".
Niger's military leaders told French ambassador Sylvain Itte he had to leave the country after they overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26. But a 48-hour ultimatum for him to leave, issued in August, passed with him still in place as the French government refused to comply, or to recognize the military regime as legitimate.
Earlier this month, Macron said the ambassador and his staff were "literally being held hostage" in the mission eating military rations with no food deliveries taking place. Macron in the interview reaffirmed France's position that Bazoum was being held "hostage" and remained the "sole legitimate authority" in the country. "He was targeted by this coup d'etat because he was carrying out courageous reforms and because there was a largely ethnic settling of scores and a lot of political cowardice," he argued "We are not here to be hostages of the putschists," said Macron. "The putschists are the allies of disorder," he added.
Macron said that jihadist attacks were causing "dozens of deaths every day in Mali" after its coup and that now such assaults had resumed in Niger. "I am very worried about this region," he said. "France, sometimes alone, has taken all its responsibilities and I am proud of our military. But we are not responsible for the political life of these countries and we draw all the consequences."
France is also keeping a close eye on the territorial integrity of Armenia after Azerbaijan's offensive to take full control of the Azerbaijani territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, President Macron declared, accusing Baku of "threatening" Armenian borders. "France is right now very vigilant concerning the territorial integrity of Armenia. Because that's what's at stake," adding that Russia was now "complicit" with Baku while Azerbaijan's ally Turkey "has always been a supporter of its (Azerbaijan's) actions".
Armenia has publicly distanced itself from its traditional ally Russia, which has failed to show any concrete support for Yerevan in the current conflict. Macron said that the Azerbaijan authorities were now "uninhibited" and "threatening the border of Armenia."
The ethnically Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but has been run by a separatist administration for three decades.
Azerbaijan already regained control of part of Karabakh in a 2020 war and now appears set on taking the rest of the territory. Yerevan said on Sunday that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will hold a pre-arranged meeting in Spain next month but Macron made no mention of this summit. "We will provide political support so that a lasting peace that can be negotiated," said Macron.