After about two months of wrangling between France and the new military regime in Niger, President Emmanuel Macron finally decided on 24 September to withdraw the French ambassador and pull out French military forces from Niger.
This was a U-turn. Only four weeks earlier, Macron had refused to follow the instructions of the putschists who’d ordered the ambassador and French forces to leave the country. He argued that he did not recognise the new junta, which took power on 26 July, and insisted that his forces would remain in the country.
