France Attacks
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France attacks Niger military junta say in televised broadcast French aircraft violated its airspace and freed terrorists
All Africa war may erupt former presidential adviser warns
Niger’s military government has accused France of violating its airspace and setting dangerous terrorists loose as part of a wider plot to undermine the country’s new rulers.
Paris has denied any involvement with terrorists and insisted that it flew a military plane into Niger legally.
In a statement on national television on Wednesday, army officer Amadou Abdramane alleged that a French military aircraft had illegally entered Nigerien airspace, which has been closed by the coup leaders since Sunday.
Rhissa Ag Boula © BOUREIMA HAMA / AFP
Abdramane also accused French forces of springing more than a dozen terrorists from jail to stage an assault on a military camp earlier that day.
“What we are seeing is a plan to destabilize our country,” Abdramane declared.The French Foreign Ministry called Abdramane’s claims “unfounded.”
In a statement, the ministry said that no terrorists had been freed, no attack against a Nigerien camp had taken place, and the French military aircraft entered Nigerien airspace under an agreement with the country’s previous government.
In a shocking coincidence a former minister in Niger’s recently overthrown government, Rhissa Ag Boula, has launched a resistance movement, seeking to undo the July 26 coup and reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum.
Boula announced the formation of the Council of Resistance for the Republic (CRR) in a statement on Wednesday, calling for the restoration of constitutional order and the arrest of General Abdourahamane Tchiani, the leader of the new military government.
“Niger was the victim of a tragedy orchestrated by those who are nevertheless responsible for preserving it,” he stated.
The movement is the first internal opposition to the takeover, which has seen military leaders detain Bazoum and his family at his residence for the past two weeks.
Bazoum was arrested on July 26, by a group of Nigerien military officers led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has threatened to deploy troops unless he was restored to power, but their ultimatum to Niamey expired on Sunday. In the meantime, the bloc has closed borders and stopped all trade and transactions with Niger.
“I don’t think ECOWAS will make the mistake of intervening militarily in Niger, because if they intervene militarily, that means all of Africa will be at war,” Antinekar al-Hassan, a political adviser to the ousted President Mohamed Bazoum, told RIA Novosti on Wednesday.
“We’re against the sanctions. They will hurt the people of Niger, not the junta,” he said.
The new military government has refused any talks with the ousted president, who has no intent of stepping down, according to al-Hassan.
“He did not sign anything and is not preparing to resign. He would rather die than resign,” al-Hassan added.
In an op-ed supposedly written from prison and published in the Washington Post on August 4, Bazoum had appealed to the “US government and the entire international community to help us restore our constitutional order.”
ECOWAS military chiefs reportedly finalised their war plans last Friday, but noted the actual intervention requires a political decision by the bloc’s governments.
Chad and Guinea have opposed both sanctions and intervention in Niger, while Burkina Faso and Mali said they would regard any military move against Niamey as a declaration of war against both of them as well.
According to the French broadcaster RFI, which was banned in Niger, ECOWAS was mustering a force of about 25,000 troops, most of them from neighboring Nigeria.
Source TeleSahel/RT/RFI/AFP
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