PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will on Saturday chair a defence meeting on the coup in Niger, the presidency said, after a powerful general declared himself the new leader.
Former colonial master France has some 1,500 troops in the West African nation, which is one of its last allies in the Sahel region, after French forces had to withdraw from neighbouring Mali earlier this year.
Macron had condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the putschists for deposing Mohamed Bazoum on Wednesday.
“This coup is completely illegitimate and profoundly dangerous, for Nigeriens, for Niger and for the whole region,“ Macron said, while also calling for Bazoum’s release and “the restoration of constitutional order”.
Following Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger has become the third country in the Sahel to be undermined by jihadist attacks linked to the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda. -AFP