Niger slams France over expulsion of security agents

Niamey says Paris forced a wounded veteran and his family out before a court annulled an order requiring him to leave

Niger has condemned France’s expulsion of two embassy security officers and their families, including a man who the authorities said was left paraplegic after being stabbed during a mission carried out with French forces more than a decade ago.

Justice Minister Alio Daouda described the decision as a “serious and unacceptable act of ingratitude” in a government statement broadcast on national television on Tuesday. He accused Paris of circumventing its own courts to remove one of the men.

The officer, Abdoul-Razak Ibrahim Moussa Toro, was stabbed in the spine during a mission in 2014 in Diffa, southeastern Niger, and evacuated to France for treatment, according to the statement. The minister said French partners financed the operation and provided fuel, logistics, and allowances.

“This is how France thanks those who served alongside it,” Daouda said. “It solicits men, recruits them and finances them. Then, when they fall, it throws them out with their families,” he added.

READ MORE: Macron behind failed military mutiny – Niger

Toro challenged an order to leave France, but the authorities declared him persona non grata on September 16 before the court ruled, the minister said. His family, including his children, were given 48 hours to leave. They departed on September 19.

Six days later, the Versailles Administrative Court annulled the original departure order and instructed the French Foreign Ministry to reconsider his situation, according to Daouda. “This is not an administrative error. It is a deliberate violation of the rule of law,” he said.

A French diplomatic source told AFP that the two men were intelligence agents whose presence was no longer justified because bilateral cooperation had ended. Le Monde reported, citing a Nigerien source, that one was suspected of monitoring opposition figures in France. The French Foreign Ministry has yet to publicly comment.

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Relations between Niger and France have deteriorated since Niamey’s current leadership took power in a military coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in July 2023. France deployed troops in Niger as part of a wider campaign against Islamist insurgents in the Sahel. Its intervention began in Mali in 2013 and expanded through Operation Barkhane in 2014, with the stated aim of combating armed groups and supporting regional forces. Despite years of French operations, the insurgency spread, fueling resentment toward Paris and demands for its troops to leave.

In August 2023, Niamey ordered French Ambassador Sylvain Itte to leave amid a standoff over France’s refusal to recognize the military leadership.

Last month, Niger accused France of inciting an August 29 mutiny in which soldiers attacked Niamey’s international airport, the adjoining Air Base 101, and the presidential palace. The authorities said loyalist forces backed by Russia’s Africa Corps regained control of the base. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot rejected the allegations as “pure fantasies.”