French President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed in a defiant speech that France’s Ambassador has remained in Niger despite being given a 48-hour deadline to leave the country last Friday.
Ambassador Sylvain Itte had been ordered to go amid rapidly deteriorating bilateral ties.
In a major foreign policy speech to Ambassadors gathered in Paris as well as others listening remotely, Mr. Macron said: “France and its diplomats have faced particularly difficult situations in some countries in recent months, from Sudan, where France has been exemplary, to Niger at this very moment.
Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum was toppled on 26 July in a coup that has been condemned by France and many of Niger’s neighbours, including the West African regional bloc Ecowas. Ambassador Itte had refused to meet Niger’s new leaders after the coup, as the junta gave him 48 hours to leave.
In a speech, Mr. Macron defended France’s military presence in Niger, stating that without intervention from Paris, the country would “no longer exist” with its “existing borders”.
Source: BBC
