*48 hrs for diplomat to leave Niger: You don’t have such legal right, France tells junta
France refused the demand, saying the military rulers had no legal right to make such an order.
Niger’s new military rulers have also been engaged in a political battle with Paris, and stripped France’s ambassador of diplomatic immunity and ordered police to expel him, according to a letter seen Thursday by AFP.
The envoy “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as member of the diplomatic personnel in the French Embassy,” according to their letter, dated Tuesday, to the foreign ministry in Paris.
According to VOA, relations with France spiraled downwards after the July coup when Paris stood by Bazoum and refused to recognise Niger’s new rulers.
Last Friday, the authorities gave French envoy Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country.
France refused the demand, saying the military rulers had no legal right to make such an order.
French military spokesperson Colonel Pierre Gaudilliere on Thursday warned that “the French military forces are ready to respond to any upturn in tension that could harm French diplomatic and military premises in Niger.”
France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital, to help fight a jihadist insurgency in Niger.
On Aug. 3, Niger’s new rulers denounced military agreements with France, a move that the government in Paris has also ignored on the grounds of legitimacy.
An organization set up after the coup named the Patriotic Front for Niger Sovereignty (FPS) has led public demands for the coup leaders to take a hard line.
It is calling for a “massive” march next Saturday on the French base, followed by a sit-in until the troops leave.
Dispatch of troops
A landlocked former French colony in the heart of the Sahel, Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies — a spill over in southeastern Niger from a long-running conflict in neighboring Nigeria, and an offensive in the southwest by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.
Bazoum came to office in 2021 after democratic elections — a watershed in a country that had had no peaceful transition of power since independence from France in 1960.
He suffered two attempted coups before finally being toppled by members of his own guard.
ECOWAS responded by warning it could intervene militarily to restore civilian rule if efforts to end the crisis diplomatically fail.
Swift to support their military comrades in Niger, Mali and Burkina have said that any such operation would be deemed a “declaration of war” against them.
Burkina Faso has approved a draft law authorizing the dispatch of troops to Niger, according to a government statement in Ouagadougou on Thursday.
