Niger junta breaks off military cooperation with France
International Desk
AFP – A West African delegation has failed to secure the return to power of Niger’s elected government despite proposals to resolve the crisis as the junta curtailed military cooperation with former colonial power France.
The ECOWAS regional bloc’s team arrived Thursday in the capital Niamey “but did not spend the night” as scheduled, nor meet with coup leader Abdourahamane Tiani or detained President Mohamed Bazoum, a delegation member said Friday.
At the same time, the junta announced that it was scrapping military pacts between Niger and France, citing the former ruler’s “careless attitude and its reaction to the situation”.
Niger has had a key role in Western strategies to combat an insurgency that has plagued the Sahel since 2012, with France and the United States stationing around 1,500 and 1,000 troops in the country, respectively.
Regional powerhouse Nigeria holds the rotating presidency of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which imposed sanctions and on Sunday gave the putschists a week to restore Bazoum to power or risk possible armed intervention.