Putschists: “The French have no reason to leave Niger”

– NIAMEY, AUGUST 2 – General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the military junta that has taken power in Niamey, said the French had “no objective reason to leave Niger” while several hundred of them are being evacuated. French citizens have “never faced the slightest threat” and have “no objective reason to leave Niger,” General Tiani said in a televised address on the eve of the country’s Independence Day, a former French colony. Tiani also “categorically” rejected the Ecowas sanctions and declared that “threats would not be bowed to”.