A civil society motion in Niger Wednesday launched a web based petition to demand the departure of France’s Barkhane anti-jihadist operation, after the authorities banned a protest towards the French mission.
France stated Monday it had pulled out its final troops from neighbouring Mali, after almost a decade of serving to to battle jihadists within the area.
Paris has since downsized its presence within the wider Sahel to round 3,000 troops primarily based in Niger and Chad, a French military spokesman stated on Wednesday.
The M26 motion, which incorporates a number of Nigerien civil society teams, stated on Wednesday it will respect the “banning” of a protest it had deliberate for the day.
However it had determined to “launch a web based petition towards Barkhane’s presence in Niger”, it stated.
President Mohamed Bazoum ought to “make it depart our nation”, as he ought to “another evil pressure whose intention is to destabilise and/or plunder the sources of our nation and the Sahel”, it stated.
In April, Nigerien lawmakers had voted in favour of international troops, together with French troopers, deploying within the nation to battle jihadists.
However late final 12 months, France confronted a wave of anger in Niger.
A convoy left Ivory Coast on its approach to resupplying French troops at a base in Mali, however encountered protests in Burkina Faso after which in western Niger.
Photographs have been fired to disperse crowds within the city of Tera, killing three individuals.
It was not instantly clear whether or not Nigerien or French forces had fired the lethal photographs, and each international locations stated they wished to compensate the households of the victims.
French forces first intervened within the Sahel’s jihadist emergency in 2013, sending troops to help Malian forces combating a regional insurgency.
It widened the hassle a 12 months later with Operation Barkhane, at its peak deploying some 5,500 troops, warplanes and drones in former colonies Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.
