The Niger junta has ordered the police to forcefully evict French ambassador, Ambassador Sylvain Itte, from the country. The visas of French ambassador and his family have been cancelled and police are instructed to expel the envoy, the junta said in a statement dated Aug. 29 and confirmed as authentic on Thursday by its communications head, according to Reuters. The regional bloc, ECOWAS deployed a “standby” force and ordered it to transition Niger back to constitutional rule. The force has not yet entered Niger, and the bloc says the door remains open to dialogue but it won’t wait forever. The junta has appointed a new government and said it would return Niger to the system of government prescribed by the constitution within three years, a timeline that ECOWAS has rejected.

Source: Punch September 01, 2023 03:54 UTC