The French military has expressed its readiness to respond to any attack targeted at its military and diplomatic facilities in Niger Republic.
Azernews reports that “the French army is ready to respond to any renewed tension that would target French military and diplomatic facilities in Niger,” the French General Staff told Anadolu in a written statement.
Amid tensions that have risen in the weeks following the ouster of Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the military administration’s Foreign Ministry last week gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to “leave Nigerien territory.” but Ambassador Itte refused to comply and remained at his post, a move that was hailed by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Niger’s military authority ordered the expulsion of the French ambassador Thursday in a letter addressed to the French Foreign Ministry.
Itte “no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the embassy’s diplomatic staff,” the military administration said.
Niger was plunged into uncertainty on July 26 when Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, a former commander of the presidential guard, led a military intervention that ousted President Bazoum.
