Niger: General Abdourahamane Tchiani accuses France of seeking to destabilize the country
Niger’s ruling interim president, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, accused France of seeking to destabilize his country, adding that “agents of the French secret services who were expelled from the country took refuge in Benin and Nigeria, in order to carry out subversive activities”.
In an interview with Niger state television marking the country’s 64th anniversary of the country’s Independence Day, General Tchiani said, “the will to destabilize Niger has been expanded by repositioning all French intelligence agents who have been expelled from Niger”.
General Abdourahamane Tchiani, who has been in power for a year, said these agents had “repositioned themselves in Nigeria and Benin, and that they were moving in civilian clothes, and that elements of the Beninese armed forces were also moving in the same uniform”.
In his interview, General Tchiani stated that Thomas Grioso, a former official at France’s General Directorate of External Security in Niamey, was involved in this conspiracy.
The general, who along with some of his military comrades turned against civilian President Mohamed Bazoum, denounced the delivery of weapons to Boko Haram terrorists, including old Kalashnikov rifles, whose serial numbers are erased to conceal their origin.
General Tchiani renewed the accusation that Cotonou had harbored French bases, while stressing that on the day when it’s convinced that there is no threat from Benin, and Niger will take appropriate measures to reopen the border.
Since the July 26, 2023 coup that overthrew President Mohamed Bazoum, relations between Niger and France have been strained, and the ruling military junta in Niamey expelled French troops, and an alliance similar to Mali and Burkina Faso with Russia.
