President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador from Niger
He said the French military contingent will leave that ousted the pro-Paris president. in the next months,
France keeps about 1,500 soldiers in Niger as part of an anti-jihadist deployment in the Sahel region
Macron told French television in an interview said “France has decided to withdraw its ambassador,” “In the next hours our ambassador and several diplomats will return to France.”
He added that military cooperation was “over” and French troops would withdraw in “the months and weeks to come” with a full pullout “by the end of the year”.
He added: “We will consult the putschists, because we want this to be done peacefully.”
. Macron said the post-coup authorities “no longer wanted to fight against terrorism”.
Niger’s military leaders had on july 26 ordered the French ambassador, Sylvain Itte, to leave the country after they overthrew the president, Mohamed Bazoum
But a 48-hour ultimatum for Itte to leave, issued in August, passed with him still in place as the French government refused to comply, or to recognise the military regime as legitimate
