Josep Borrell, during a conference in New York, expressed “his full solidarity” with Paris, while the French ambassador to Niger is under expulsion from the putschists.
Paris refuses to recognize the Nigerien authorities resulting from the coup d’état which occurred at the end of July and as such the departure of Sylvain Itté as demanded by the new leaders. “We expressed our solidarity with France regarding its ambassador,” declared the head of diplomacy of the European Union, during a conference in New York following a meeting of foreign ministers of the EU. Josep Borrell also reaffirmed his “full support” for President Mohamed Bazoum, overthrown and held prisoner by the military. “We saluted his courage and his determination”, even though he has been detained for two months and does not intend to resign, he added.
“Reassess” the EU strategy
On the Sahel, Josep Borrell reiterated that the European Union must “reassess” its strategy, its approach, its policies and its expectations. “We have no conclusions,” he said while emphasizing that the ministers agreed on one point: the need for a “new approach” in a “much more complex” environment. He recalled the situation of the Sahel, a neighbor and a partner at the same time, and the importance that member countries attach to the countries of this region, particularly in terms of security. “We insisted on the idea that we must have African solutions to African problems,” he also declared. Last week, Josep Borrell recognized that despite hundreds of millions of euros spent in the Sahel, Europeans had failed to strengthen democracy in this region, the victim of a series of military coups, including the last in Niger.
This article is originally published on .adiac-congo.com
