France shuts embassy in Niger, but says it will keep sending money to NGOs

• France has closed its embassy in Niamey a week after the last of its 1 500 soldiers left Niger.
• It will continue to send money to NGOs, while handling diplomacy remotely from Paris.
• Niger is a major supplier of uranium. 

France announced this week that it is closing its embassy in Niamey, but it intends maintaining its relationship with the country on a remote basis from Paris – and will keep sending money to organisations in Niger.

Niger's military government, which seized power in mid-2023, demanded that France withdraw its soldiers and political presence, preferring closer ties with Russia.

Niger was a key site of French anti-jihadist operations across West Africa's Sahel region, where it has a colonial history.

The last of its roughly 1 500 troops left Niger in December.

"For the past five months, our embassy has been subjected to major obstacles that have made it impossible to do its job: a blockade around the embassy, restrictions on employee movements, and the turning away of all diplomatic personnel who were supposed to arrive in Niger, in clear violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the French government said in a statement.

It added that it would continue to directly fund NGOs in Niger.

ALSO READ | Niger, Uganda, CAR and Gabon kicked out of AGOA, as Mauritania is welcomed back

Consular issues will be dealt with through other French embassies in the region.

According to Trading Economics, Niger is the world's seventh-biggest uranium producer. It is also the second-largest supplier of natural uranium to the European Union.

France is a major generator of nuclear power and, in 2022 alone, about 1 440 tonnes of uranium were exported by Niger to France.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali (MINUSMA) had been due to leave Niger by 31 December, and says it has successfully completed the withdrawal, with only a small team still overseeing the transport of assets from the country.