Rumors of military intervention in Niger spoil relations between France and Algeria

In France, they speak without sedatives of a media campaign by Algeria against their interests in Africa. The Algerian media have been spreading the news in the last few hours that the Elysée urged to overfly North African country’s airspace ‘to attack Niger’. A request that the Algerian President would have opposed Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

However, the French army categorically rejected the allegations. “There is absolutely no desire to attack Niger”, transferred an official to the newspaper Le Figaro. According to the same source, France had not even submitted an application to conduct a military flight in recent days.

But the Algerian state broadcaster assured that on Monday evening “Military intervention is imminent and the entire military apparatus is on the move” to reverse the July 26 military coup in Niger that ousted the president Mohamed Bazouma close ally of France and the rest of the western countries in the fight against jihadist terrorism in the Sahel.

A few hours before the broadcast, the Nigerian putschists announced their intention to remain in power for the next three years and to initiate a political transition. Some plans that existed rejected by ECOWAS.

According to Algerian media, following Algeria’s refusal to fly over its airspace, The Elysee “on the way to Morocco”which “decided to respond positively to the French request” and “proved once again that it remains a colonial state”.

In this sense, bilateral relations between Paris and Rabat continue Braces since the Pegasus scandal broke towards the end of 2021. The Alaouite kingdom would have spied on French President Emmanuel Macron through the program of the Israeli company NSO Group. The Elysee Palace’s decision to maintain an ambiguous position in the Western Sahara dispute has also angered Rabat.

However, the allegations are not new. The Algerian media are close to the ruling party Speak daily against ECOWAS or against Franceand accused both actors of wanting to set the Sahel on fire. The NATO intervention in Libya in 2011 is often cited as a prime example, where the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi led to an unresolved political crisis, the intervention of other foreign forces and, most importantly, the proliferation of jihadist groups.

Since the riots in Niger Algeria has insisted that the only possible way out is a political solution. Tebboune himself has rejected any military intervention, although his diplomats are demanding Bazoum’s return.

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