Niger orders UN representative Louise Aubin to leave the country

Niger orders the United Nations representative in this country, Louise Aubin, to evacuate. On Tuesday, the leaders of the military junta gave the Canadian woman three days to leave the West African country.

In a press release dated October 10, the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland (CNSP) – the military in power since last July – declared that it had “terminated the mandate of the UN representative in Niger” and orders Louise Aubin “to take all necessary measures to leave Niamey within seventy-two hours”.

The junta accuses the United Nations of being manipulated by France.

“The CNSP and the government have noted with amazement, the sneaky maneuvers that the General Secretariat of the United Nations continues to orchestrate, under the instigation of France, through all the obstacles already placed in order to thwart full and complete participation of Niger at the different sequences of the meetings of the 78^e Session of the UN General Assembly,” reads the press release.

Military leaders wanted Niger’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Bakary Yaou Sangaré, appointed foreign minister after the coup, to speak on Niger’s behalf at the UN General Assembly.

However, according to the Associated Press, Bakary Yaou Sangaré did not receive his credentials to attend after the foreign minister of the ousted Nigerien government sent a letter to the UN “informing it of the end of the functions of Mr. Yaou Sangaré as permanent representative of Niger to the United Nations,” declared a UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric.

French troops begin to leave Niamey

On the same day of the publication of the press release ordering the departure of Louise Aubin, the French military troops present in Niger began to leave the country.

Around 1,500 French soldiers had been deployed to Niger to fight against terrorism in the Sahel.

This first departure of troops comes weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would end its military presence in the African country and withdraw its ambassador following the coup that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum.

Since taking power, Niger’s military leaders have exploited popular anti-French sentiment against the former colonial power and declared the troop withdrawal a new step toward the country’s sovereignty.

In office since 2021

Louis Aubin was appointed United Nations Resident Coordinator in Niger in January 2021 by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

The holder of a degree in political science and a doctorate in law from the University of Ottawa has more than 25 years of experience in the legal, political and humanitarian fields, in the private and public sectors.

With information from the Associated Press