France on Friday rejected the Niger junta’s attempt to revoke bilateral military agreements, claiming that only the nation’s “legitimate” leadership was qualified to do so.
The French foreign ministry responded to the junta in Niamey’s announcement that it was terminating military cooperation agreements with Paris by saying that the “legal framework of France’s defence agreement with Niger is based on accords that were signed with the legitimate Nigerien authorities.”
Recall that 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.
Also, 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.
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