New exchange of arms between Paris and Niamey. From New Delhi, on the sidelines of the G20 summit, President Macron responded to the Nigerien putschists, who once again accused France of planning an attack against their country.
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On Saturday, it was the Nigerien military regime, resulting from the July coup, which accused France of “ deploy one’s forces in several West African countries, namely Benin, Côte d’Ivoire and Senegal, with a view to assault “. “ These maneuvers » aim to “ to succeed in a military intervention against our country », Says Niamey.
The response from Paris was not long in coming, this Sunday. “ We do not recognize any legitimacy in the statements of the putschists “, made a point of specifying the French president Emmanuel Macron during a press conference at the G20 summit in India.
“ French forces were placed on Niger soil at the request of Niger. And we are there to fight against terrorism at the request of Niger and its democratically elected authorities, namely President Bazoum, his government and his Parliament. We have also had effective action which has drastically reduced terrorist attacks on Niger soil. And we did it at the cost of the lives of several French soldiers, I have a thought for the memory of the latter and their families each time I mention this subject. A coup d’état since last July has held a democratically elected president hostage. France has a simple position: we condemn him, we demand the release of President Bazoum and the restoration of constitutional order. And we do not recognize any legitimacy in the statements of the putschists. Since President Bazoum has not relinquished his power, if we redeploy anything, I will only do so at the request of President Bazoum, and in coordination with him. Not with officials who, today, are taking a president hostage. On this subject, since day one, France has been coordinating with all the presidents of the region, the heads of state and government, and we fully support the positions of ECOWAS. ECOWAS condemned this putsch, it took sanctions, as did WAMU, and ECOWAS continues to work to free President Bazoum and help resolve this issue. France is at his side and supports him. On the rest, I have no intention as long as the situation is this, it freezes everything in a way, since the only person with whom we have to speak legitimately is President Bazoum. »
At the same time, the situation in Niger was also at the heart of a discussion between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the transition in Mali, Assimi Goïta. A telephone interview ” at the initiative of the Malian party “, indicated the Kremlin in a press release. The two leaders declared themselves in favor of a political settlement.
Listen again[Vos questions] Towards a withdrawal of French forces from Niger?