France Ambassador to Niger ‘Held Hostage’ – Macron

French President, Emmanuel Macron,
Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna later said the ambassador “is working” and would stay at his post for as long as Paris wished.

“He is very useful for us with his contacts and those of his team,” Colonna told LCI television, adding the ambassador still had a small team with him.

France keeps about 1,500 soldiers in Niger, and said earlier this month that any redeployment could only be negotiated with Bazoum.

The country’s new leaders have torn up military cooperation agreements with France and asked the troops to leave quickly.

Macron has for weeks rejected the call to remove the French ambassador, a stance backed by the EU which has described the demand as “a provocation”.

Like France, the EU “does not recognise” the authorities that seized power in Niger, said EU foreign affairs spokeswoman Nabila Massrali last month.

The impoverished Sahel region south of the Sahara has suffered what Macron has called an “epidemic” of coups in recent years, with military regimes replacing elected governments in Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea as well as Niger.

AFP