The international organization of La Francophonie (OIF) announced on Wednesday the suspension of Niger, where a military regime overthrew elected president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.
The permanent council of the OIF, meeting Tuesday in an extraordinary session by videoconference, “pronounced the suspension of the Republic of Niger” with immediate effect, with the exception of programs “directly benefiting civilian populations, and those contributing to the restoration of democracy,” according to a press release sent to AFP on Wednesday.
The OIF also called for the “immediate and unconditional release of President Mohamed Bazoum” and his family, still sequestered in his presidential residence with his wife Haziza and their son Salem.
La Francophonie also demanded the “rapid restoration of constitutional order and democracy in Niger” and called on the transitional authorities to establish “a timetable for exiting the transition with a limited duration”.
Based in Paris, the international organization of La Francophonie has 88 states and governments with the mission of promoting the “French language and cultural and linguistic diversity”, “peace, democracy and human rights”, or even “to support education”.
In mid-December, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), of which Niger is a part, ordered the new Nigerien power “the immediate and unconditional release” of Mr. Bazoum and his family.
However, ECOWAS had recognized a few days earlier for the first time that Mohamed Bazoum was “effectively overthrown by a military coup”. If she had announced the suspension of Niger from its “decision-making bodies” until the restoration of constitutional order in the country, she had, in the process, resumed communication with the military power in Niamey.