00:00 In a disturbing international news, the French ambassador to Niger is facing a delicate situation.
00:14 While he had received the order to leave the country following a rapid deterioration of
00:18 bilateral relations, Sylvain Itt decided to stay on the spot despite the expiration
00:23 of the 48-hour delay imposed by the Putschists.
00:26 A decision that surprised and even defended by French President Emmanuel Macron,
00:31 stating in a speech of challenge that he salutes the ambassador for his "courageous choice".
00:34 Niger has recently been shaken by a coup d'état that overthrew the elected president,
00:40 Mohamed Bazoum.
00:41 This coup d'état was condemned by France as well as by many neighboring countries
00:45 of Niger, including the Economic Community of the States of West Africa (CDAO).
00:50 Ambassador Itt refused to meet the new Nigerian leaders after the coup d'état,
00:56 which led the agency to ask him to leave the country.
00:58 However, the decision to stay on the spot of the French ambassador testifies to the
01:03 growing tension between France and Niger.
01:06 It is not a coincidence that thousands of supporters of the coup d'état have demonstrated
01:10 near the French military base in Niamey, the capital of Niger.
01:14 Some of these demonstrators demanded the departure of French troops, thus expressing
01:19 their discontent with the French military presence in the region.
01:22 In a speech pronounced in front of the ambassadors gathered in Paris, President Macron defended
01:28 this military presence by justifying that without the intervention of France, the country
01:32 and its borders would be nothing more than a distant memory.
01:35 According to him, neighboring countries of Niger, such as Mali and Burkina Faso, would have
01:40 suffered the same fate without the French intervention.
01:43 France indeed deployed troops to Mali in 2013 to fight separatist rebellions
01:49 and armed Islamist groups.
01:50 Since then, French anti-terrorist operations have spread to other countries in the Sahel
01:56 region, including Burkina Faso, Chad and Niger.
02:00 Africa thus becomes a theater of indirect confrontation between Russia and the West.
02:05 The French military presence in the Sahel region is perceived as a way to counter
02:09 Russia's growing influence, which seeks to extend its economic and political relations
02:14 in Africa.
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02:25 (air whooshing)