PH
Tens of thousands of people marched in Niamey on Saturday in favor of the country’s new military rulers, who had given France’s ambassador to Niger 48 hours to depart.
The Seyni Kountche stadium, Niger’s largest with a capacity of 30,000 seats, was two-thirds full, and vuvuzelas rang out, according to AFP journalists.
Flags of Niger, Algeria, and Russia adorned the bleachers, and acrobats dressed in Niger’s national colors performed in the center of the pitch.
“We have the right to choose the partners we want,” said Ramatou Ibrahim Boubacar, wearing Nigerien flags from head to toe. “France must respect this choice.
“For sixty years, we have never been independent, only since the day of the coup d’etat,” she said.
Boubacar went on to say that the country totally supported the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP), which took control on July 26 after ousting President Mohamed Bazoum’s government.
The CNSP is directed by General Abdourahamane Tiani, who has set France as its next goal.
“The fight will not stop until the day there are no longer any French soldiers in Niger,” CNSP member Colonel Obro Amadou told the stadium crowd on Saturday.
“It’s you who are going to drive them out,” he said.
‘Ready to fight’
Niger’s foreign ministry declared on Friday that French ambassador Sylvain Itte had 48 hours to leave because he refused to meet with the new rulers and cited French government activities that were “contrary to Niger’s interests.”
Paris has since rejected the demand, saying that “the putschists do not have the authority to make this request.”
“The French ambassador, instead of leaving, thinks this is the land of his parents,” said Idrissa Halidou, a healthcare worker and CNSP member who was attending Saturday’s rally.
“We are people of war, we are ready to fight against” the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), he added.
The West African bloc has sanctioned the new regime and threatens to use military force to depose it if the new rulers do not return power to Bazoum.
Efforts to find a diplomatic solution, meanwhile, are ongoing, with Molly Phee, the top US ambassador for Sub-Saharan Africa, visiting Nigeria to speak with ECOWAS officials.
They convened in Abuja, Nigeria, which now holds the ECOWAS presidency.
According to the US State Department, Phee was also talking with senior officials in Benin, Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Togo, all of whom are members of the ECOWAS regional bloc.
The new rulers in Niamey accuse ECOWAS of being in France’s pocket.
France has 1,500 soldiers based in Niger who had been helping Bazoum in the fight against jihadist forces that have been active in the country for years.
