2023-08-19 17:24:19
France received a request to free the President of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum.. For this reason, it did not respond
Today, Saturday, an informed source confirmed information reported by the French newspaper “Le Monde” that Paris had received, in the hours following the coup in Niger on July 26, a request from the Nigerien army to help liberate President Mohamed Bazoum.
About 1,500 French soldiers are deployed in Niger under defense agreements between the two countries. The putschists announced the nullity of those agreements, a decision that Paris did not recognize, considering that they did not represent the legitimate authorities.
An informed source told “Agence France Presse” that in the hours following the coup, “a request was submitted to support an operation of the Nigerien army to liberate President Bazoum,” adding: “But the loyalists changed their position and sided with the putschists, and therefore the conditions for meeting the request for support were not met.”
The source did not clarify the nature of the assistance that Paris might have provided.
On July 31, the coup perpetrators accused France of wanting to “intervene militarily” to restore Bazoum to his post.
The putschists said in a statement read on television that “France, with the complicity of some Nigeriens, held a meeting at the headquarters of the Nigerien National Guard, to obtain the necessary political and military approval.”
Muhammad Bazoum is still being held at his residence, and Western and African countries are warning of the deteriorating conditions of his detention and his health condition.
A delegation of regional states to Niger is making a final diplomatic effort to reach a peaceful solution with the rebel soldiers who overthrew Azum.
Representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) arrived in the capital, Niamey, early Saturday, and will join the efforts of UN Special Representative for West Africa and the Sahel Leonardo Santos Simao, who came Friday, in an effort to facilitate the process of finding a solution to the ongoing crisis.
However, in parallel with these diplomatic initiatives, ECOWAS confirmed, on Friday evening, its readiness to send military forces to Niger to restore constitutional order to this country.
ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Abdelfattah Moussa, announced that the decision had been taken on the exact day of military intervention in Niger, but added, “We will not announce it.”
“We are ready to intervene as soon as the order is given. The day of intervention has also been set,” Moussa said following a two-day meeting of the chiefs of staff of the ECOWAS armies in Accra, adding that during the meeting, “strategic objectives, necessary equipment, commitment member states” in relation to a possible military operation.
On August 10, the ECOWAS heads of state ordered the activation of a “reserve force” to be sent to Niger, and at the meeting of the chiefs of staff in Accra on Friday, the outlines of this force were drawn.
Niger enjoys strategic importance for world powers, due to its reserves of uranium and oil, and its role as a center for foreign forces involved in fighting rebel movements and armed groups linked to “Al-Qaeda” and “ISIS”.
(AFP, The New Arab)
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