COTONOU, Benin — French troops have started leaving Niger more than two months after mutinous soldiers toppled the African country's democratically elected president, the military said Wednesday.
More than 100 troops left in two flights from the capital Niamey on Tuesday in the first of what will be several rounds of departures between now and the end of the year, said French military spokesman, Col. Pierre Gaudilliere. All are returning to France, he said.
Niger's state television broadcast images of a convoy leaving a base in Ouallam in the north, saying it was bound for neighboring Chad, to the east.
The departure comes weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that france will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country as a result of the coup that removed President Mohamed Bazoum in late July. Some 1,500 French troops have been operating in Niger, training its military and conducting joint operations.
Also Tuesday, the junta gave the United Nations resident coordinator in Niger, Louise Aubin, 72 hours to leave the country, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry. The junta cited “underhanded maneuvers” by the U.N. secretary-general to prevent its full participation in last month's General Assembly in New York as one of the reasons.
The military rulers had wanted Niger's former ambassador to the United Nations, Bakary Yaou Sangare, who was made…
