The Washington Post-France to withdraw diplomats troops from Niger after coup
September 25, 2023 3 min 571 words
这则报道揭示了法国在尼日尔发生政变后的外交和军事决策，以及这一决策可能对地区产生的影响。法国总统马克龙宣布撤回大使、多名外交官和1,500名士兵，这是在7月26日的政变推翻了总统穆罕默德·巴祖姆之后的两个月内的决策。这一举措标志着法国在尼日尔的外交和军事合作的结束，进一步拉大了两国之间的鸿沟。 值得注意的是，这已经是法国在该地区的第三次撤军，此前法国和平维持部队已经不得不离开马里和布基纳法索，因为政变者夺取了政权。法国曾是这三个国家的前殖民统治国，并在西非部署了4,000名士兵，是任何一位外国合作伙伴派遣的最多士兵的国家。 报道指出，尼日尔政变后的当局“不再愿意与恐怖主义作斗争”，这标志着法国为了打击极端主义威胁和效忠基地组织或伊斯兰国的叛乱团体而在该地区进行了近十年的部署可能会受到削弱。 这一撤军决定发生在法国在西非地区的地位受到俄罗斯、中国和土耳其不断增长的存在威胁之际。报道提到，布基纳法索在一月份要求法国结束在那里的军事行动，总理阿波利奈尔·吉耶勒姆·德·坦贝拉将俄罗斯视为在这个遭受圣战主义袭击的国家打击极端主义的“明智选择”。 这篇报道也强调了法国在这些前殖民地国家中的反法情绪，这为法国退出西非地区铺平了道路。在马里，反法标语经常出现在示威活动中，民间团体指责外国军队加剧了安全局势。政变者们则利用了反帝国主义情感。 尼日尔的撤军对法国来说是一个特别沉重的打击，因为尼日尔一直是巴祖姆总统与马里关系恶化后，法国在撒哈拉地区反叛分子打击中扮演着越来越重要的盟友角色。 马克龙表示，法国军队将在未来几周和几个月内撤离，计划在年底前完成全面撤退。尽管他不承认政变者为合法当局，但马克龙在接受法国电视采访时表示，法国将与政变领导人协调，以确保有序撤退，同时强调法国拒绝“被政变者拿来当人质”。 此外，尼日尔的军事统治者禁止法国飞机飞越该国领空，这引发了一些未知的问题，包括大使和其他法国外交官的离境将受到影响。这一举措可能对法国和西非地区的未来产生深远影响，尤其是在对抗极端分子方面。这个决定反映了法国在该地区的地缘政治挑战，以及地区国家对外国军事存在的态度转变。
2023-09-25T12:03:02.672Z
France announced a diplomatic withdrawal and the end of its military cooperation with Niger, two months after a coup removed a pro-French president and widened the gulf between the two countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday that Paris would pull out its ambassador, several diplomats and 1,500 troops from the West African country following a coup on July 26 that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum.
The French withdrawal is the third of its kind in the region recently: Since 2022, French peacekeepers have had to leave Mali and Burkina Faso after putschists took over. France is a former colonial power in all three countries and had deployed 4,000 troops across West Africa, the largest number of soldiers of any single foreign partner.
Amid a wave of West African coups, France faces a reckoning
The deployments over nearly a decade have focused on fighting extremist threats and insurgent groups that have pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda or the Islamic State. On Sunday, Macron said the post-coup authorities “no longer wanted to fight against terrorism.”
The withdrawal comes at a time when France’s footing in West Africa is threatened by a growing Russian, Chinese and Turkish presence. In January, Burkina Faso told France to end army operations there after Prime Minister Apollinaire Kyélem de Tambèla dubbed Russia a “reasonable” choice for a partner in the jihadist-hit country’s fight against extremism.
Anti-French sentiment in the former colonized countries paved the way for this exit from West Africa. In Mali, anti-French signs were waved regularly at demonstrations. Civil groups have accused the foreign troops of worsening the security situation. Juntas capitalized on the anti-imperialist resentment.
In a statement broadcast on national television, Niger’s military rulers said they “celebrate a new step toward the sovereignty of Niger” and dubbed the withdrawal “a historic moment, which speaks to the determination and will of the Nigerien people.”
The exit from Niger, a centerpiece in Paris’s anti-terrorist activities, is an especially hard blow for France, whose counterinsurgency operations in the Sahel region are likely to weaken. Macro had relied on Niger as an ally with a growing role following the collapse of relations with Mali.
France’s drawdown in West Africa fuels local extremists’ hope for a Taliban-style victory
Macron said troops would be withdrawing in the coming weeks and months, with a full pullout set by the end of the year. Although he does not recognize the putschists as the legitimate authority, Macron said in an interview with French television that Paris would be coordinating with the coup leaders to ensure an orderly exit, adding that France refused to “be held hostage by the putschists.”
On Saturday, the Agency for the Safety of Air Navigation in Africa and Madagascar said Niger’s military rulers have banned French aircraft from flying through the country’s airspace. The agency said Niger’s airspace is “open to all national and international commercial flights except for French aircraft or aircraft chartered by France including those of the airline Air France,” Agence France-Presse reported.
The statement stipulated that all flights, including military and other special flights, are banned from Niger’s airspace without prior authorization, AFP reported. It is unclear how this will affect the departure of the ambassador and other French diplomats.