Although he asks for a French investigation after the clashes which occurred during a passage of Barkhane at the end of November, Mohamed Bazoum seems to have become the messenger of Emmanuel Macron.
Mohamed Bazoum is decidedly the best lawyer in France. The President of Niger has certainly "demanded from the French authorities" an investigation into the incidents which took place at the end of November, when a military convoy of the Barkhane force was moving in the west of the country. Niger. Three people were then killed. But the Nigerien president seems to have nevertheless become a spokesperson for France.
It is on the anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Niger that President Bazoum asked Paris to open "an investigation with a view to punishing those who have been guilty of reprehensible acts". At first glance, the declaration of the Head of State seems sovereign. But above all, for Mohamed Bazoum, it is backpedaling. Because, concerning the passage of the French military convoy, Bazoum had at the time spoken of simple "annoying dysfunctions" of the "device of the maintenance of order".
If the shooting, which had caused three deaths, had been attributed to the Nigerien security forces, other sources nevertheless assured that it was Barkhane's soldiers who had fired. Except that Mohamed Bazoum preferred to dismiss his Minister of the Interior, Alkache Alhada, and his High Commander of the National Gendarmerie, General Salifou Wakasso. Bazoum had not, then, provided any explanation.
It took him a few days, and especially pressure at the national level, for the President of Niger to order a French investigation. He had previously asked his own "competent services" for an investigation to "identify these dysfunctions and locate the various responsibilities".
Bazoum defends French decisions in the Sahel
While the French military convoy had been blocked for more than a week in Burkina Faso, at the end of November, President Mohamed Bazoum had decided to denounce the lynching campaigns against France and its army. “I am totally sorry for the campaign that is being waged against them. I want the French to be strong, because they have, with this space of the Sahel, a singular history ", affirmed Bazoum during a press conference, before ensuring to be" sure that the day when the French will pack up. in Gao, it will be chaos! "
On December 6, at the XNUMXth International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa, in Dakar, the Nigerien president gave a speech to indicate "how we will eradicate terrorism". He had then managed to carefully avoid mentioning France.
However, since this summer, Mohamed Bazoum acts as VRP for Paris. When Macron has a message to send to Africa, he does not hesitate to appeal to the President of Niger. When it came to arguing about the withdrawal of Barkhane, it was also Bazoum who had arrived as reinforcements. Last July, the Nigerien head of state had indeed said “in agreement” with the end of Operation Barkhane in the Sahel and affirmed that France “does not have to wage war in place of the Sahelians. ".
Suffice to say that the investigation requested by Mohamed Bazoum is only an announcement effect, which will allow him to save face after accusing his own ministers and generals of having been the source of clashes between civilians and soldiers. End of november.