Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 get you more on today's events in Niger. We can cross to Gary Amadou who's in Niamey. Gary, a mass
00:07 rally then in the capital, also at the end of France's evacuation of citizens there. What can
00:14 you tell us at this stage? What I can tell you is that today we have a huge mass of people
00:25 trying to demonstrate. They demonstrate and they give support to the junta. And what we can notice
00:31 on this demonstration is that people asked the French army to withdraw from Niger. Let's say
00:40 the departure of the French army from Niger. This is the main, I mean, let's say, demand of,
00:44 let's say, protesters. We can say that this demonstration is a kind of a protestation
00:50 against the pressure that we have on the junta from the international community.
00:57 I mean, Gary, in terms of this deadline, there's a looming deadline that was set by
01:05 ECOWAS who have said that by Sunday they want to see Mohamed Bouzoum return to his place as
01:12 president in the country. How is that deadline going down there? And we'll see, of course,
01:17 that Senegal and Ivory Coast have said they're willing to send in troops if there's an
01:22 intervention. How's that being felt where you are? Yeah, I think that people are very afraid of,
01:29 let's say, the perspective of the rate of West African army in Niamey. So people are afraid
01:40 because people know that, I mean, the junta cannot do anything. The junta cannot resist
01:47 if, I mean, West African army, I'm talking about Nigerian army, Ivory Coast army and Senegal army
01:53 and maybe army for a military from Benin, if they decided to launch a raid on the presidential
02:00 palace. So people are afraid of the consequences because they are afraid of, I mean, the life of
02:06 the president Bouzoum, his family, and also about the consequences of this kind of, let's say,
02:14 raid on civilian who are living all around the presidential government. So the situation is
02:22 very dangerous. I think that even the junta is taking into account the fact that ECOAS is,
02:28 let's say, very, very, very determined to, I mean, is very convinced that if negotiation will
02:37 do not give, I mean, solutions, the only way to make it possible for President Bouzoum to regain
02:43 his, let's say, his power is to launch a raid. So this is a very, very, very, very difficult
02:50 situation. People are afraid of that. All right. Tensions are high in Niamey,
02:55 as you've described there, Gary. Thanks very much for keeping us up to date from Niamey.