Niger slams France over expulsion of security agents

Niamey says Paris forced a wounded veteran and his family out before a court annulled an order requiring him to leave Niger has condemned France’s expulsion of two embassy security officers and their families, including a man who the authorities said was left paraplegic after being stabbed during a mission carried out with French forces more than a decade ago.

Justice Minister Alio Daouda described the decision as a “serious and unacceptable act of ingratitude” in a government statement broadcast on national television on Tuesday.

He accused Paris of circumventing its own courts to remove one of the men.

The officer, Abdoul-Razak Ibrahim Moussa Toro, was stabbed in the spine during a mission in 2014 in Diffa, southeastern Niger, and evacuated to France for treatment, according to the statement.

The minister said French partners financed the operation and provided fuel, logistics, and allowances.

“This is how France thanks those who served alongside it,” Daouda said.

“It solicits men, recruits them and finances them.

Then, when they fall, it throws them out with their families,” he added.

READ MORE: Macron behind failed military mutiny – Niger Toro challenged an order to leave France, but the authorities declared him persona non grata on September 16 before the court ruled, the minister said.

His family, including his children, were given 48 hours to leave.

They departed on September 19.

Six days later, the Versailles Administrative Court annulled the original departure order and instructed the French Foreign Ministry to reconsider his situation, according to Daouda.

“This is not an administrative error.

It is a deliberate violation of the rule of law,” he said.