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[Global Times Comprehensive Report] "Niger leader says France wants to 'destabilize' the country." AFP reported with this title that on the 3rd local time, Niger's military regime leader and Chairman of the National Committee for the Defense of the Fatherland, Ziyani, said that 7 months after the French troops withdrew from Niger, France still attempted to "destabilize" the country.

Last September, French President Macron announced that he would withdraw his troops from Niger by the end of the year, and the French ambassador to Niger left the country in the same month. The first batch of French troops withdrew from Niger on October 10 of the same year. On December 22, 2023, the Niger military announced in the capital Niamey that the last batch of French troops withdrew from Niger on the same day. So far, more than 1,500 French troops and their combat equipment have all withdrawn from Niger.

According to reports, in an interview with Niger Public Television on the 3rd, Chiani said that France's "morbid desire to undermine Niger's stability is spreading through the re-infiltration of French intelligence personnel who were expelled from our territory." He said that French intelligence personnel carried out "destabilizing operations" in Niger through "subversive agent groups in plain clothes" and "members of the Benin armed forces in civilian clothes." "These people have been redeployed in Nigeria and Benin."

According to Agence France-Presse, in recent months, there have been constant diplomatic disputes between Niger and Benin. Since the military coup in Niger last July, Benin, as a member state, has been asking the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to impose severe sanctions on Niger. In February this year, ECOWAS announced the lifting of some sanctions on Niger, but Niamey refused to reopen the border and cut off a pipeline for exporting crude oil through the port of Benin. "Once we confirm that Benin is not a threat, we will take appropriate measures to reopen the border," said Chiani. The report mentioned that Niger often accuses its neighbor Benin of being a "base for harboring French spies." Both Benin and France denied this.

Niger is at odds with Benin, but has established closer relations with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Mali. In an interview on the 3rd, Chiani said that the Sahel Confederation of States, which was formed by Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso in July, could soon benefit from Niger's oil. (Wang Cong)