French forces face new protests after crossing into Niger from Burkina Faso
Protesters in Niger blocked a French military convoy on Saturday shortly after it crossed the border from Burkina Faso, where it had been trapped for a week due to demonstrations against the former colonial ruler there, the French army said.
French soldiers and Nigerian military police fired warning shots to prevent the protesters from approaching their vehicles, before the convoy could continue on its way to the capital Niamey, army spokesman Colonel Pascal Ianni said.
Anger over France’s military presence in its former colonies has increased in Niger, Burkina Faso and other countries in the Sahel region of West Africa, where France has thousands of troops to fight local affiliates of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. .
Last weekend, hundreds of people in the Burkinabe city of Kaya blocked French armored vehicles and logistics trucks, protesting the failure of French troops to stop the escalation of violence by Islamist militants.
The convoy, which is heading from the Ivory Coast to northern Mali, was finally able to leave Burkina Faso on Friday.
He ran into new protests less than 30 kilometers (19 miles) across the border in the western Niger city of Tera, where he had stopped for the night, Ianni told Reuters.
“The protesters tried to loot and seize the trucks,” Ianni said. “There were warning shots from Nigerian gendarmes and French soldiers.”
Video shared by a local official showed protesters, mostly young men, shouting “Down with France!” like black smoke rose from a burning barricade.
France intervened in Mali in 2013 to repel militants who had taken over the northern desert, before deploying soldiers to the Sahel. While it has killed many of the top jihadist leaders, the violence has continued to intensify and spread in the region.
At demonstrations in Burkina Faso and elsewhere, protesters have cited conspiracy theories that France is secretly supporting militants to justify its continued military presence in its former colonies.
(REUTERS)
