For Nicolas Normand, the departure of the French ambassador from Niger “is not the end of the French economic presence”, but “the end of a certain form of military cooperation”.
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“A new era is dawning in relations between France and Niger”estimated this Wednesday on franceinfo Nicolas Normand, former French ambassador to Mali, Congo Brazzaville and Senegal, author of the Great Book of Africa (2019, Eyrolles), while the French ambassador to Niger, Sylvain Itté , returned to Paris.
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franceinfo: How was his departure organized?
Nicolas Normand: At night and in consultation with the putschists to avoid any incident. There remains the problem of evacuating French soldiers which will be more complicated to organize because they have a lot of land equipment. We must therefore avoid roads being blocked by demonstrators and things must happen peacefully. Contacts are necessary with the military junta. It’s a good thing that the ambassador is gone because it’s the end of a standoff that served no purpose. A new era is dawning in relations between France and Niger.
Does the departure of the Niger ambassador mean the end of all activity?
No, diplomatic relations are not broken. They are with the Afghanistan of the Taliban where we no longer have an embassy. There we maintain an embassy with diplomatic staff dealing with affairs. Relations are not normalized and French diplomats on site handle current affairs and analyze the situation and report to Paris. This is not the end of the French economic presence. It is the end of a certain form of military cooperation.
Can French people present in Niger call on the embassy if necessary?
They can resolve specific situations, but I think they will be very busy with the evacuation of the military. If French people are in difficulty, they will have contact with the authorities and our diplomats will seek pragmatic solutions. For the moment, the French as such are not targeted by the regime or the population. What is being targeted is French policy.