Huge Protests in Niger Call for French Forces to Leave after Coup

Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) protest outside the Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 2, 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) protest outside the Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 2, 2023 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger. (Photo by AFP)
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Huge Protests in Niger Call for French Forces to Leave after Coup

Supporters of Niger's National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) protest outside the Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 2, 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) protest outside the Niger and French airbase in Niamey on September 2, 2023 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger. (Photo by AFP)

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered outside a French military base in Niger's capital Niamey on Saturday demanding that its troops leave in the wake of a military coup that has widespread popular support but which Paris refuses to recognize.

The July 26 coup - one of eight in West and Central Africa since 2020 - has sucked in global powers concerned about a shift to military rule across the region, Reuters said.

Most impacted is France, whose influence over its former colonies has waned in West Africa in recent years just as popular vitriol has grown. Its forces have been kicked out of neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso since coups in those countries, reducing its role in a region-wide fight against deadly Islamist insurgencies.

Anti-French sentiment has risen in Niger since the coup but soured further last week when France ignored the junta's order for its ambassador, Sylvain Itte, to leave. Police have been instructed to expel him, the junta said.

Outside the military base on Saturday, protesters slit the throat of a goat dressed in French colors and carried coffins draped in French flags as a line of Nigerien soldiers looked on. Others carried signs calling for France to leave.

Reuters reporters said it was the biggest gathering yet since the coup, suggesting that support for the junta - and derision of France - was not waning.

"We are ready to sacrifice ourselves today, because we are proud," said demonstrator Yacouba Issoufou. "They plundered our resources and we became aware. So they're going to get out."

By early evening local time, there had been no apparent outbreaks of violence.
France had cordial relations with ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and has about 1,500 troops stationed in Niger.

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke to Bazoum every day and that "the decisions we will take, whatever they may be, will be based upon exchanges with Bazoum."

Niger's junta denounced the comments as divisive and served only to perpetrate France's neo-colonial relationship.

France is not the only country with concerns. West Africa's regional bloc ECOWAS has slapped sanctions on Niger and threatened military action as a last resort. The United States and European powers also have troops stationed in the country.

Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu, who holds ECOWAS' revolving chairmanship, said last week that a nine-month transition back to civilian rule could satisfy regional powers.

Niger's junta had previously proposed a three-year timeline.



Russian Attack Wounds Three in Ukraine's Sumy Region

Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
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Russian Attack Wounds Three in Ukraine's Sumy Region

Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova
Servicemen of 13th Operative Purpose Brigade 'Khartiia' of the National Guard of Ukraine fire an OTO Melara howitzer towards Russian troops at a position in a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine January 3, 2025. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova

At least three people, including two children, were wounded in a Russian attack on the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, local authorities said.
Sumy region borders Russia's Kursk region and has been regularly shelled by Russian forces for months.
"Russians dropped a bomb on a residential building. Two children and one adult were injured. One entrance of the apartment building was destroyed," Sumy military administration said on the Telegram messenger.
A rescue operation was under way to find people who may be trapped by rubble, officials said. Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, did not immediately comment on the events in Sumy.
Russia's defense ministry said on Saturday that Russian forces had taken control of the village of Nadiya in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region and had shot down eight US-made ATACMS missiles.
Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.
The ministry said its air defense systems had shot down 10 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory on Saturday morning, including three over the northern Leningrad region.
St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport temporarily halted flight arrivals and departures on Saturday morning.