Niger Regime Slams France for Backing Ousted Bazoum

Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) display a French national flag with a x-mark on during a protest outside Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 1, 2023 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger. (Photo by AFP)
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) display a French national flag with a x-mark on during a protest outside Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 1, 2023 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger. (Photo by AFP)
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Niger Regime Slams France for Backing Ousted Bazoum

Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) display a French national flag with a x-mark on during a protest outside Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 1, 2023 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger. (Photo by AFP)
Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) display a French national flag with a x-mark on during a protest outside Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 1, 2023 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger. (Photo by AFP)

Niger's military regime fired a new verbal broadside at France on Friday, accusing Paris of "blatant interference" by backing the country's ousted president as protestors rallied near a French base outside the capital Niamey.

President Mohamed Bazoum, a French ally whose election in 2021 had stoked hopes of stability in the troubled country, was detained on July 26 by members of his guard.

Relations with France, the country's former colonial power and ally in its fight against militants, went swiftly downhill after Paris stood by Bazoum.

Comments by French President Emmanuel Macron in support of Bazoum "constitute further blatant interference in Niger's domestic affairs," regime spokesman Colonel Amadou Abdramane said in a statement read on nationwide TV.

The Sahel state is also embroiled in a standoff with the West African bloc ECOWAS, which has threatened to intervene militarily if diplomatic pressure to return the elected Bazoum to office fails.

On Monday, Macron said, "I call on all the states in the region to adopt a responsible policy."

France, he said, "supports (ECOWAS') diplomatic action and, when it so decides, (its) military" action, he said, describing this as "a partnership approach."

On Friday, Macron paid further tribute to Bazoum, praising his "commitment, action and courage".

He dismissed Niger's rulers as having "no legitimacy" and insisted France would make its decisions with regard to Niger "on the basis of exchanges with President Bazoum".

Abdramane said, "Mr. Macron's comments and his unceasing efforts in favor of an invasion of Niger aim at perpetuating a neo-colonial operation against the Nigerien people, who ask for nothing more than to decide its own destiny for itself."

Abdramane said Niger's "differences" with France "do not touch on the relationship between our peoples, or on individuals, but on the relevance of the French military presence in Niger."

On August 3, the regime denounced military agreements with France, a move that Paris has ignored on the grounds of legitimacy.

The agreements cover different timeframes, although one of them dating from 2012 was set to expire within a month, according to military leaders.

France has around 1,500 troops in Niger, many of them stationed at an airbase near the capital, who are deployed to help fight a bloody insurgency.

Thousands of people on Friday gathered outside the base to demand the troops leave.

The three-day "sit-in" has been organized by the M62, a coalition of civil groups opposed to the French military presence in Niger.

"France must leave and she will leave, because Niger is not her home," said an M62 leader, Falma Taya.



Qantas Plane Lands Safely in Sydney after Engine Failure

Workers check the runway, near where a grass fire occurred, as a Qantas plane prepares to take off behind at Sydney International Airport on November 8, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Workers check the runway, near where a grass fire occurred, as a Qantas plane prepares to take off behind at Sydney International Airport on November 8, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
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Qantas Plane Lands Safely in Sydney after Engine Failure

Workers check the runway, near where a grass fire occurred, as a Qantas plane prepares to take off behind at Sydney International Airport on November 8, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)
Workers check the runway, near where a grass fire occurred, as a Qantas plane prepares to take off behind at Sydney International Airport on November 8, 2024. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

A Qantas Airways plane bound for Brisbane suffered an engine failure after take-off on Friday and circled for a short period of time before returning safely to Sydney Airport, the Australian airline said.
Passengers heard a loud bang from one of the aircraft's two engines, Australian media reported.
A journalist with national broadcaster ABC was on the flight and said there was a "sharp shudder" on the plane after the loud noise, his news outlet reported.
"It was apparent something had happened with one of the engines, then the plane seemed to labor to get off the ground or get any altitude," ABC journalist Mark Willacy said.
Qantas did not disclose the number of passengers or crew aboard the narrow-body plane, which its website states offers 12 business and 162 economy seats.
The airline said its engineers had conducted a preliminary inspection of the engine and confirmed it was a contained engine failure, meaning the internal engine parts stayed within the protective housing designed to keep them safely enclosed.
Uncontained engine failures, where engine fragments fly out of this housing, can result in serious damage to the main body of an aircraft.
Qantas flight QF520 took off from Sydney at 12:35 p.m. (0135 GMT), circled a few times and diverted to land at Sydney, tracking data from Flightradar24 showed.
Qantas said the plane landed safely after appropriate procedures were conducted and added it would be investigating the cause of the engine issue.
The plane is a 19-year-old Boeing 737-800, according to Flightradar24.

The aircraft's departure coincided with a grass fire breaking out alongside Sydney Airport's parallel runway that was brought under control by teams from the aviation firefighting rescue service, the airport said in a statement.