French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday said that his country would support a military intervention in Niger to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum, who was ousted in a July 26 coup.
“We support the diplomatic action, and when it decides to do so militarily, of ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States), in a partnership approach,” the French leader said, according to Africa News.
Since Bazoum was ousted in a July 26 coup, ECOWAS has been threatening military action if he is not reinstated through a diplomatic solution. The junta, led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, has shown no sign that it will release Bazoum and is preparing for an ECOWAS attack.
France has been backing the ECOWAS threats and would likely be involved in any intervention since it has about 1,500 troops in Niger. The US also has about 1,100 troops in the country and a major drone base.
On Friday, the junta, formally known as the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, ordered the French ambassador in Niger to leave the country within 48 hours. But Paris rejected the demand, and Macron said the ambassador would stay.
“France and its diplomats have been confronted in recent months with particularly difficult situations in certain countries, whether in Sudan, where France has been exemplary, or in Niger at this very moment, and I salute your colleague and your colleagues who are listening from their posts,” Macron said.
The French politicians are still smarting that they were unceremoniously evicted from Africa.
Macron: “France has been exemplary.” France and England maintain a friendly competition. While “France has been exemplary,” England has been exceptionally good in dragging us into catastrophic wars. All of which makes us the biggest loser with a moral superiority complex. (Sarcasm)
Neither country can accept that they live in a world where they no longer really matter to anyone at all – even in europe. We’ll join them in that club in a generation or two; I hope we behave better than they do, but somehow I doubt it.
Us actions resulted in the deaths of millions in just the last 20 years. So….
About 20 million since WWII. But hey, Empire doesn’t care. It would blow up the whole planet for money & power, as it’s threatening to do with its proxy war against Russia, and as George Lucas pointed out in Star Wars decades ago.
The French People should demand that Macron resign but they of course won’t. France meddled in Mali’s affairs and now it is meddling in Niger’s affairs. Neither of those nations did anything to France. Since it lost its colonies, France has maintained neocolonialism in its former colonies.
France has been colonialist for hundreds of years. Nothing new here.
Macron just loves to imitate US on regime change of ex-colonies…!
One by one the various victims of French Colonialism have kicked out the French to seek out an independent course. France does not like being humiliated and will bomb away to ease their pain.
ECOWAS is a collection of countries with their own problems, and very blood soaked pasts, to live down. Just a few years ago, Liberia and Sierra Leone had devastating civil wars, with over 250,000 killed in Liberia, and perhaps 70,000 in sierra leone; Cote d’ivoire and ghana have their own internal problems, and Nigeria is a basket case; over 2 million dead in the Biafran war that only ended 50 years ago; maybe 350,000 dead fighting boko haram, thousands killed in the Niger Delta conflict –
Yet France thinks it’s a good idea to instigate an invasion of Niger by these tottering corpses (errr, “independent democratic nation states”) to put France’s puppet back on the throne (errr…”restore him to the presidency”) because nothing is more important than maintaining France’s access to their ex colony (err. “democracy”)
The LAST thing west africa needs is more war; more death, more displaced people, more incentives for boko haram. If this happens, I would pity the victims, but it would be a just result if Niger annihilated every single Frenchie in Niger – man, woman, and child, and sent them back to Macron in a big box.
Nigeria is owned & run by Shell Oil. Until that changes, that country is a lost cause.
Colonial thuggery. Go home Frog