French President Emmanuel Macron announced Friday that his ambassador to Niger is being held hostage there with others.
“In Niger, as I speak to you we have an ambassador and diplomatic members who are literally being held hostage at the French embassy,” Macron told reporters in France. “They are preventing food deliveries and he is eating military rations.”
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Ambassador Sylvain Itte, 64, has served in the position in Niger since October of last year. Previously, he was the ambassador to Angola from 2016 to 2020. Itte’s current term was interrupted by a coup calling itself the Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie, or CNSP, which ousted then-President Mohamed Bazoum.
On Aug. 25, the CNSP gave the ambassador 48 hours to leave the country, but Macron opted to keep him there. On top of that, he recently deployed 1,500 additional French troops to Niger.
“I will do whatever we agree with President Bazoum because he is the legitimate authority and I speak with him every day,” Macron went on.
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Neither France nor the European Union has acknowledged the CNSP as the ruling party.
Meanwhile, the Biden administration has been reluctant to declare the situation an attempted coup, partly because a designation could compel Washington to cut military ties with them, while the Economic Community of West African States is considering the possibility of a military intervention. Instead, the United States is prepared to evacuate troops from its Nigerien Air Base 201, where the airspace is currently closed.
