Macron’s Ambassador to Niger Flees the Country as French Stewardship of African Crises Collapses

President Macron may look back at last week, when he raised a toast with King Charles III at the Palace of Versailles, with une certaine nostalgie, given the fresh turmoil he now faces at France’s frontiers. Feature what’s unfolding in Niger, where on Wednesday the French envoy, Sylvain Itté, was spirited out of the former French colony. Mr. Macron had on Sunday hinted that would happen when he told a French television station that Mr. Itté was literally being held “hostage” — and fed, mon dieu, “military rations” — by the junta leaders who seized power two months ago.Keeping a French diplomat undernourished is never a good idea, and while the French embassy at Niamey remains open, French news outlets reported that by daybreak Mr. Itté was already in neighboring Chad. The logistics of the operation were reportedly complex, in part because the junta, headed by the former commander of the presidential guard, considered the ambassador to be in Niger illegally.Niger’s leaders leaders had been demanding the ambassador’s expulsion for several weeks and showed they were serious by canceling the ambassador’s diplomatic immunity. Adding to the tension, armed Nigerien soldiers and military trucks were in recent days stationed in front of the embassy compound. So, once outside the embassy and to avoid complications, he had to leave the country on the double — a major embarrassment for the Quai d’Orsay. Since Niger’s government was overthrown in a coup last July, relations between Paris and Niamey have taken a nosedive. Last week France even announced the withdrawal of French army troops by year’s end.Monsieur Macron stated on Sunday that France was ending “its military cooperation with the de facto authorities of Niger, because they no longer want to fight against terrorism.” Nearly 1,500 French military personnel are still stationed in Niger. Paris is insisting that it maintains “support” for President Mohamed Bazoum, who was overthrown in the July 26 coup. The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, said on Monday that France seeks “a return to constitutional order” in Niger, in full support of the efforts of the Economic Community of West African States.On Monday, America’s defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, said that Washington wants to see a diplomatic solution to the crisis in Niger and that it would “continue to evaluate for any future steps that would prioritize both our democratic and our security goals.”There is little question, however, that some of those security goals look to be increasingly in jeopardy. According to the Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel region of Africa accounted for more than 40 percent of extremist deaths in the world in 2022. There are still several hundred American troops in Niger. There is a French military presence in Chad, which, like Niger, once formed part of France’s colonial empire. The exit of the French envoy, now to be followed by the exodus of French troops, means bidding adieu to a key line of defense against jihadi violence. It does not augur well for counterterrorism in central Africa.Mark, too, that in August, a group of French lawmakers sent a letter to President Macron implying that he was “giving up” on the African continent, with which France has deep historical and commercial ties. If the 45-year-old, whose popularity now trails behind that of his chief domestic rival, Marine Le Pen, thinks that auto-pilot can substitute for robust navigation for a continent as riven with political fault lines as Africa, he is likely mistaken.Or maybe he is just in over his head? The bigger question though is whether the the problems emanating from Africa are becoming headaches for France and the rest of the West simply because they are intractable or because of Mr. Macron’s inability to manage them. Another example is the illegal immigration crisis, which has in recent days pitted authorities in another former French colony, Tunisia, against those in France and Italy. African migrants are leaving the Tunisian shore in droves in makeshift boats that have overwhelmed the Italian island of Lampedusa, and all reports indicate there will be more. Mr. Macron met with Prime Minister Meloni at Rome this week, telling her that in respect of the migrant emergency, “We cannot leave the Italians alone.” But the rhetoric of solidarity is not a solution, and moreover the Frenchman seemed to have overlooked what his own interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said last week: namely, that France will not take in any migrants from Lampedusa. For Paris, Africa has become what the French would call un bordel — slang for a big mistake. If Mr. Macron could manage to push his ego aside for a while, he might have a better gander at starting to clean some of it up. In any event, he’ll always have Versailles.

Macron’s Ambassador to Niger Flees the Country as French Stewardship of African Crises Collapses

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