The military leadership of Niger, which is a former French colony, has begun booting Western ambassadors from the country, starting with France. The French ambassador has been given 48 hours to leave.
While there were initial reports in AFP that the US and German ambassadors were also ordered to depart the country, this was quickly walked back as a premature report lacking verification. But given tensions, they could be next.
A US State Department spokesperson later said "no such request has been made to the US government".
But since the July 26 coup d'état, ousted and still detained President Mohamed Bazoum has been accused of working with France to trigger outside military intervention towards restoring him to power.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been frequently critical of the junta, and demanded the immediately release of Bazoum, something repeated on Thursday.
On Friday the junta revealed that the French ambassador refused a meeting with Niger's new foreign minister, with Paris having cited that Niger's "putschists have no authority". Niger then said the French government was acting "contrary to the interests of Niger" and therefore the ambassador must be expelled.
According to the full statement from France's government:
"The putschists do not have the authority to make this request, the ambassador's approval coming solely from the legitimate elected Nigerien authorities," Paris said, adding: "We are constantly evaluating the security and operating conditions of our embassy."
The French ambassador is likely to be forced from the country, regardless, heightening the international crisis which has stretched to a month.
#Algeria officially banned the french #AirForce from using its airspace in supporting any supposed military operation in #Niger .#France high likely to use the #morocco airspace which will complicate the logistical issue .@Armee_de_lair pic.twitter.com/9A4Bj1w5JL
— kimo dial (@kmldial70) August 22, 2023
The coup government's supporters have been protesting French and Western interference in the Sahel region, both historic colonial occupation and their recent military presence, in some cases flying Russian flags as a supposed 'anti-imperialist' symbol. The French embassy had been attacked and set on fire within the opening days of the coup d'état.
Western African states which are friendly to the West are still threatening military intervention to restore Bazoum, but have been waffling on this decision.
