France announced this Tuesday (2) that it closed its embassy in Niger because “serious obstacles” to its activity in the last five months, since the military coup at the end of July 2023, made it “impossible to carry out its missions”.
In a statement, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained that the closure is, for now, indefinite and that the embassy will continue its activities in Paris.
This means that it will maintain its links with the French and with NGOs carrying out humanitarian work in the African country, which, according to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will continue to be financed “for the direct benefit of the most vulnerable populations”.
In the statement, the ministry recalled the reasons for its decision: “The blockade around the embassy, the restrictions on the movement of agents and the expulsion of all diplomatic personnel who were supposed to go to Niger, in clear violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations “.
The embassy was attacked on July 30 during an anti-French protest organized four days after the military coup d'état by the self-styled National Council for the Protection of the Fatherland (CNSP).
This junta removed President Mohamed Bazoum, an ally of France, from power and suspended the Constitution.
Tensions increased in the following weeks between Paris and the new military junta, which demanded the withdrawal of around 1,500 French soldiers stationed in Niger, formally to help the country's Armed Forces fight jihadist groups, which occurred at the beginning of October.
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