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.



China, Russia Militaries Conduct Joint Air Patrol over Sea of Japan

Flags of China and Russia are displayed in this illustration picture taken March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
Flags of China and Russia are displayed in this illustration picture taken March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
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China, Russia Militaries Conduct Joint Air Patrol over Sea of Japan

Flags of China and Russia are displayed in this illustration picture taken March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo
Flags of China and Russia are displayed in this illustration picture taken March 24, 2022. REUTERS/Florence Lo/Illustration/File Photo

Chinese and Russian militaries have organized and carried out the ninth joint strategic air patrol in "relevant airspace" over the Sea of Japan on Friday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.
The air patrol was part of an annual cooperation plan between the countries since 2019, Reuters said.
CCTV said the air patrol aims to effectively test and enhance the joint training and operational capabilities of the two air forces.
South Korea's military said it launched fighter jets after 11 Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered the country's air defense identification zone (ADIZ). The aircraft lingered over a period of four hours before exiting without incident.
South Korea has protested to China and Russia that the air patrol was conducted without notice.
Countries demand that foreign aircraft entering their ADIZ identify themselves for security reasons. Such zones however do not refer to territorial airspace of a sovereign state, and often overlap with ADIZs of other countries.
In July, both militaries conducted a joint air patrol using nuclear-capable strategic bombers near the US state of Alaska in the North Pacific and Arctic, prompting the United States and Canada to scramble fighter jets.