NIGER
NIGER – In Niamey, “watch brigades” against “the imminent threat”

A dozen first, then about thirty people arrive little by little once night at the Francophonie roundabout in Niamey, responding to the call of the military who overthrew at the end of July President Mohamed Bazoum.
Friday, August 04, 2023, supporters of the coup d’état have invested several central roundabouts of the Nigerien capital. The day before, the putschists had invited the population to “vigilance” against “spies and foreign forces” and to report any “movement of suspicious individuals”.
“We settled on the strategic roundabouts to make night pickets with the population,” explains Boubacar Kimba Kollo, coordinator of the Support Committee of the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP, which took power), created at the very beginning of the putsch on July 26, and whose first statements taken up by state television date from 29.
“Everyone is circling around (these roundabouts) to get access to the capital,” he said, explaining that he had deployed Committee members to several of Niamey’s central roundabouts.
The objective, he explains, is to “monitor the comings and goings of any suspicious person, whom we try to stop ourselves”. For him, “it is a fight of the people!”
Who are these suspects? ” This is information we have, but we can only keep quiet,” he said. We have real information that pushes us to say that there is an imminent threat to the capital, we can not stay” without doing anything.
Is he referring to a possible imminent military intervention by neighbouring West African countries that are increasing the pressure before the end of the ultimatum they gave to the putschists to restore President Bazoum to office?
There is certainly this, acknowledge several people gathered, but not only: “It is not even the ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) that worries us, but a French intervention”, says the coordinator Kimba Kollo evokingmixes foreign legion, enemies of the people, and more generally, “all those who try to attack us”.
Become the main popular harangue of the pro-putsch demonstrations organized since July 26, a “Down with France!” is launched by a young man around.
Another passes by the car around the roundabout with a Nigerien flag at the window. “That’s a patriot, a real!” said Alassane, a young man from the neighbourhood who came, more out of curiosity than political support, to see where the music came from.
– “We’ll stay every night” –
The driver sees the crowd, leans towards the passenger seat, pulls out a Russian flag, puts the handbrake in the middle of the road, gets out of his car, and brandishes the two flags towards the sky.
This support committee is part, with the civil society movement of the M-62, spearheads of support for the military putschists.
They have organized and ensured the security of pro-military gatherings since the coup, and are the voices of putschists who control their speeches to the extreme.
In some respects, they resemble the Yerewolo movements and the Collectif de défense des militaires in Bamako, two leading platforms in the rhetoric of the Malian military regime, and the committees of popular vigilance close to the putschists in Ouagadougou.
In the streets of Niamey, many are those who, while supporting this new coup, the fifth in the history of Niger, also call for de-escalation.
In the Place de la Francophonie, in the heart of one of the capital’s many working-class neighbourhoods, cars pass by without paying much attention to this gathering to which dozens of talibé children from Koranic schools have quickly been grafted.
Friday, August 04, 2023, vigilance still seemed to break in but, promises the deputy coordinator Tassirou Issa, “we will soon control all the trucks, all the vehicles, we are 25 million policemen in Niger, 25 million soldiers”, reference to the number of inhabitants of the country.
He has a flocked cap of General Abdourahamane Tiani, the leader of the coup, screwed on the skull.
Mahamat Bashir, a fashion designer, goes through this: “It is important to support my country, the military. I came to support what is happening here!”.
After 22:00, the Nigerian anthem comes out of the speakers. The atmosphere is joyful and Boubacar Kimba Kollo warns: “We will stay every night until the end of the threat!”.
NIGER
NIGER – France begins the process of withdrawal of its committed forces

Out of the impasse in Niger, without recognizing the de facto authorities and in a climate of growing hostility, this is what Paris is trying to do. After five weeks of tensions with the perpetrators of the coup d’état on July 26, France finally began discussions on the redeployment of part of its forces engaged in this Sahel country, on Wednesday, September 06, 2023.
After initially refusing to comply with the injunctions of the Nigerien military, who made the departure of the French soldiers their political fuel, the Ministry of Armies and several concordant sources admitted, Tuesday, September 5, the World opened a discussion on the modalities of the «withdrawal of certain military elements».
At the beginning of August, the junta gave France a month to withdraw from Nigerien territory, after having denounced the military cooperation agreements that until now linked Paris and Niamey. On Saturday, September 2, on the eve of the expiration of the ultimatum set by the putschists, thousands of pro-junta Nigeriens demonstrated again against the presence of the French military, a few steps from the base they occupy in Niamey with other foreign detachments.
NIGER
NIGER – Demonstrators want the departure of French soldiers

Thousands of protesters gathered on Friday near a military base housing French forces in the Nigerien capital Niamey to demand the departure of French soldiers, AFP journalists said.
This “sit-in” organized at the call of the M62 Movement, a coalition of civil society organizations hostile to the French military presence in Niger, was preceded by numerous rallies with similar demands since the coup of July 26, and must last until Sunday.
“France must leave and it will leave, because it is not at home in Niger,” said Falma Taya, a leader of the M62 Movement, haranguing the crowd.
In the shade of the walls of the houses bordering the base, the demonstrators were sitting on carpets and mats under a strong heat.
“We are here for as long as it takes, until the last French soldier empties the place,” said Ibrahim Abdou, a member of a “Military Support Committee”, wearing a t-shirt bearing the image of General Abdourahamane Tiani, the country’s new strongman.
On 3 August, the soldiers who seized power in a coup d’état denounced several military agreements with France, which has 1,500 soldiers deployed in the anti-jihadist struggle in Niger.
The agreements all contained different notices for their effective end, one of which, relating to a 2012 text, was one month, according to the military.
Several calls for “sit-ins” were launched by civil society organizations from Friday afternoon to request the departure of French forces.
Niger’s military regime is engaged in a diplomatic standoff with France, a former colonial power.
The diplomatic immunity and visa of the French ambassador to Niger were withdrawn and the authorities notified Tuesday in Paris of their intention to expel him.
Last Friday, they had initially left 48H to Sylvain Itté to leave the territory, an ultimatum rejected by Paris that argues that this government is illegitimate and has no authority to base such a request.
NIGER
NIGER – Political tension: President Emmanuel Macron shoots putschists

Faced with the will of the putschists in Niger who want to expel the French ambassador to Niger, President Emmanuel Macron does not intend to yield to pressure.
At the annual conference of ambassadors held at the Elysée Palace on Monday, August 28, 2023, the French President defended the retention of the ambassador in Niamey. Emmanuel Macron is uncompromising:
“The problem of Nigeriens today is that they are being threatened by putschists because they are abandoning the fight against terrorism, they are abandoning a policy that is economically sound. They are losing all the international funding that allowed them to get out of poverty. That is the reality. We do not recognize the putschists and we support President Bazoum. We support the diplomatic and even military action of ECOWAS in a partnership approach” served the Head of State of France.
The tenant of the Elysee Palace believes that a coup against a democratically elected president, from a minority ethnic group and who has carried out courageous reforms is simply unacceptable. “Our policy is the right one! It is based on the courage of President Bazoum, the commitment of our diplomats who remain despite the pressure and thanks to the commitment of our internal security forces and our military. We are clear, we will not yield to a narrative used for the putschists that consists in saying that our enemy is France,” Macron added.
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