From Ayodele Ayodeji, Ado Ekiti
The leader of the Nigerien junta said his country has revoked various military cooperation agreements with France after ousting President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup plot last week.
Reuters reports that France has between 1,000 and 1,500 troops in Niger that are helping to fight an insurgency by groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State that has spread across the region.
The junta also announced on national television that it was ending the mandates of Nigerien ambassadors to France, Nigeria, Togo and the United States.
The action followed the sanctions imposed by Niger’s regional and Western allies including France, Nigeria among others in an efforts to pile pressure on the coup leaders to restore constitutional order after Bazoum’s ouster.
But junta leader Abdourahamane Tiani, has said he would not back down. Tiani has enlisted the support of the military rulers in Mali and Burkina Faso, while claiming persistent insecurity as his main justification for seizing power.
The Republic of Niger’s coup leaders also announced they would end the mandates of ambassadors to four countries as they face international pressure to restore the democratically elected leader they ousted last week.
The junta said it would respond immediately to any “aggression or attempted aggression” against it by West African countries, three days before the expiry of an ultimatum to restore order given by regional bloc ECOWAS.
“Any aggression or attempted aggression against the State of Niger will see an immediate and unannounced response from the Niger Defence and Security Forces on one of (the bloc’s) members, with the exception of suspended friendly countries.”
Meanwhile the deposed President Mohamed Bazoum, has said that if a coup attempt to depose him is successful, “it will have devastating consequences for our country, our region and the entire world.”
In a column in The Washington Post, Bazoum called on “the US government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order.”
The appeal was Bazoum’s first response since he was overthrown by his presidential guard since July 26.
