Pressure mounts on Niger junta as France sticks on existing bilateral military ties
By Emma Ogbuehi
The coup leaders in Niger Republic came under more pressure as France, the country’s former colonial master, rejected the junta’s move to scrap bilateral military pacts between the two nations, saying only a “legitimate” leadership was entitled to do so.
Recall that the military junta in Niger cut off ties with Nigeria, France, and other countries on Friday, after the peace talks delegates sent by the Economic Community of West Africa States failed.
France dismissed the move by the coup leaders, insisting that they lacked the legitimacy to do so.
“The legal framework of France’s defence agreement with Niger is based on accords that were signed with the legitimate Nigerien authorities,” the foreign ministry said after the junta in Niamey said it was cancelling military cooperation agreements with Paris.
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The insistence by France coincided with President Bola Tinubu, ECOWAS Chairman, writing to inform the Senate of the coup in Niger Republic and the resolutions of ECOWAS on how to return the democratically elected Government to power.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio read Tinubu’s letter on the floor during plenary.
The Authority of Heads of State and Government of the ECOWAS, the highest body of the Union, has asked the coup leaders in Niger, led by Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, to restore the ousted President, Mohamed Bazoum to power. The African Union has followed suit by issuing a 15-day ultimatum to the junta to reinstall the country’s democratically elected government.
In a follow-up, Tinubu, on Thursday, dispatched former Military Head of State, Gen Abdulsalami Abubakar and Sultan of Sokoto, Abubakar 111, to Niger to explore amicable means of settling the impasse in the country.
According to a report on Friday by Radio France International, the “delegation from the ECOWAS arrived in Niamey, with the aim of establishing a dialogue with the junta in order to obtain the return to constitutional order. The first contacts on site were positive.
“But at the end of the evening, the CNSP spoke through the voice of Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane, the same who spoke on July 26, when the soldiers announced that they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum.
Also, the Niger Coup leaders, on Thursday, revoked a raft of military cooperation agreements with France.
The country further suspended broadcasts of French state-funded international news outlets France 24 and RFI earlier on Thursday – drawing condemnation from the French foreign ministry.
A decision about the revocation of five military deals with France dating between 1977 and 2020 was read out on national television late on Thursday by junta representative, Amadou Abdramane, Reuters reports.
The leaders of the West African regional bloc met to discuss sanctions to be placed against the military personnel who toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023.
Diplomatic sources hint that the insistence by France on the existence of bilateral military ties with Niger, could be a veiled indication of a possible showdown with the new regime in the country.