France to withdraw its troops from Niger by the end of 2023 – Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday that France will withdraw its military from Niger by the end of 2023. This decision comes as the relationship between the two countries has been strained since a military junta took over Niger in July.

“We are stopping our military cooperation with the people in charge of Niger because they don’t want to fight terrorism anymore,” Macron said about the military leaders who took control of the northwest African country.

France does not accept or acknowledge Niger’s military leaders. They still consider Mohamed Bazoum, who was removed from power in the coup, as the only rightful leader of the country.

Macron said we are ending our “cooperation” because we don’t want to be involved in their internal politics and be controlled by the military group.

He said that the withdrawal will be planned and arranged in the weeks ahead.

“They will return in a well-organized way in the upcoming weeks and months, and we will work together with the rebels because we want this to happen peacefully,” stated Macron.

Niger’s military government said it is happy that France will remove its soldiers from the country. This was mentioned in a statement on Niger’s state television, Tele Sahel.

This Sunday, we are celebrating another progress towards Niger’s independence. French soldiers and the French representative will be departing Niger before the year ends, as mentioned in the statement. We do not want imperialist and neo-colonialist forces in our country anymore.

“We will continue to strongly oppose and confront any organization or system that tries to question or go against the best interests of our country. ”

France decided to send soldiers to Niger because it is a peaceful country in a troubled region with lots of political problems and terrorism. The soldiers are there to help fight terrorism. This information was reported by CNN.

About 1,500 soldiers are still present.

Macron said that by the end of 2023, there will be no more French soldiers in Niger.

CNN reported earlier this month that the United States might start taking its soldiers out of Niger soon. About half of the around 1,100 US troops in Niger may be removed from the country, according to two officials.

The president of France also mentioned that he has chosen to bring back the country’s ambassador to Niger, Sylvain Itte, to France.

Macron said that France has decided to bring back its ambassador. In a few hours, our ambassador and some diplomats are coming back to France.

Just over a week ago, Macron said the ambassador was being kept against their will at the French embassy and food could not be delivered to the embassy in Niamey, the capital.

After the military took over in July, they told Itte to leave the country. Later on, they canceled his permission to stay and told the police to kick him out.

But according to the French president, the diplomat stayed where they were, and the French government said again that they do not accept the junta’s power.

Earlier this month, the French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said that Itte is still working. She also mentioned that he will continue working for as long as we want him to. Moreover, she stated that Itte’s return was a decision made by Macron.