France backs West African efforts to make Niger coup fail

[August 05, 2023]  PARIS (Reuters) - France will support efforts by the West African regional grouping ECOWAS to make the military coup in Niger fail, the French foreign ministry said on Saturday.   

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna met with Niger Prime Minister Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou and the Niger ambassador in Paris on Saturday.

Earlier, Colonna said the junta in Niamey had until Sunday to hand back power, otherwise a threat by member countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to stage a military intervention had to be taken "very seriously".

"The threat is credible," she said on French public radio.

France did not specify whether its backing would entail military support for an ECOWAS intervention in Niger.

(Reporting by Michel Rose and Juliette Jabkhiro, Editing by Angus MacSwan and Giles Elgood)

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