NIGER JUNTA INVITES MALI, BURKINA FASO TO AID DEFENSE

Niger’s junta authorized troops from neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso to come to its defense and asked the French ambassador to leave the country Friday, raising the stakes in a standoff with other West African nations who are threatening force to reinstate Niger’s democratically elected president.

The junta leader, Brig. Gen. Abdrahmane Tchiani, signed two executive orders authorizing the “security forces of Burkina Faso and Mali to intervene on Niger territory in the event of aggression,” senior junta official Oumarou Ibrahim Sidi said late Thursday, after hosting a delegation from the two countries in the Nigerien capital, Niamey.

Sidi did not provide further details about the military support from the two countries, whose military regimes have said any use of force by the West African bloc ECOWAS against Niger’s junta would be treated as an act of war against their own nations.

The Nigerien Ministry of Foreign Affairs said French Ambassador Sylvain Itte was asked to leave Niger within 48 hours in a letter that accused him of ignoring an invitation for a meeting with the ministry.

The letter dated Friday, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, also cited “actions of the French government contrary to the interests of Niger.”

Before last month’s ouster of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, Niger, a former French colony, was seen as the West’s last major partner against jihadi violence in the Sahel region below the Sahara Desert, which is rife with anti-French sentiment.