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.



Taliban Say India Is a ‘Significant Regional Partner’ after Meeting

Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP
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Taliban Say India Is a ‘Significant Regional Partner’ after Meeting

Photo: AFP
Photo: AFP

The Taliban's foreign office said they saw India as a "significant regional and economic partner" after meeting with its most senior foreign ministry official, the highest level talks with Delhi since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
India's Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri met acting Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Dubai on Wednesday.
Afghanistan's foreign ministry said in a statement that they had discussed expanding relations with Afghanistan and to boost trade through Chabahar Port in Iran, which India has been developing for goods to bypass the ports of Karachi and Gwadar in its rival Pakistan, Reuters reported.
"In line with Afghanistan's balanced and economy-focused foreign policy, the Islamic Emirate aims to strengthen political and economic ties with India as a significant regional and economic partner," the statement from Afghanistan's foreign ministry said late on Wednesday.
India's foreign ministry said after the Delhi meeting that India was considering engaging in development projects in Afghanistan and looking to boost trade ties.
No foreign government, including India, officially recognizes the Taliban administration.
However, India is one of several countries with a small mission in Kabul to facilitate trade, aid and medical support and has sent humanitarian aid to Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Regional players including China and Russia have signaled they are willing to boost trade and investment in Afghanistan.
The Delhi meeting could ruffle Pakistan, which borders both countries and has fought three wars in the past against India.
Pakistan and Afghanistan also have a strained relationship, with Pakistan saying that several militant attacks that have occurred in its country have been launched from Afghan soil - a charge the Afghan Taliban denies.
Earlier this week India's foreign office told journalists they condemned airstrikes conducted late last year by Pakistan on Afghan soil.