Only ‘Legitimate’ Niger Govt Can Cut Military Ties – France Tells Junta

France has rejected the Niger junta’s move to cut bilateral military pacts, noting that it was only the “legitimate” leadership of the country that can do so.

France stated this on Friday after the junta in Niamey said it was cancelling military cooperation agreements with Paris.

“The legal framework of France’s defence agreement with Niger is based on accords that were signed with the legitimate Nigerien authorities,” France ministry said.

The military junta in Niger Republic cut off ties with Nigeria, France, and other countries on Friday, after the peace talks delegates sent by the Economic Community of West Africa States failed.

According to a report on Friday by Radio France International, the “delegation from the ECOWAS arrived in Niamey, with the aim of establishing a dialogue with the junta in order to obtain the return to constitutional order. The first contacts on site were positive.

“But at the end of the evening, the CNSP spoke through the voice of Colonel-Major Amadou Abdramane, the same who spoke on July 26, when the soldiers announced that they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum.”

The Niger Coup leaders on Thursday, revoked a raft of military cooperation agreements with France.

The country further suspended broadcasts of French state-funded international news outlets France 24 and RFI earlier on Thursday – drawing condemnation from the French foreign ministry.

A decision about the revocation of five military deals with France dating between 1977 and 2020 was read out on national television late on Thursday by junta representative, Amadou Abdramane, Reuters reports.

Abdramane added that a diplomatic notice will be sent to France to that effect. There was no immediate response from France.

Some locals have accused the former colonial ruler of interfering in their affairs.

Kanyi Daily reported the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) issued a seven-day ultimatum to the military junta in Niger Republic to hand over power to the democratically elected government of Mohamed Bazoum.

President of the ECOWAS Commission, Omar Touray, had during the extraordinary session presided over by its Chairman, President Bola Tinubu in Abuja last Sunday, disclosed that all Chiefs of Defence Staff of the member states would proceed for an emergency meeting to strategise on effective ways to implement a possible military operation to restore Bazoum to office.

Also, ECOWAS leaders enforced a no-flight zone over the country as part of sanctions against the restive West African country.

The military junta toppled President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023.