President Emmanuel Macron also announced that France will pull its ambassador out of the country after its democratically elected president was deposed in a coup.
It has already deprived Bazoum of food,water and electricity in captivity. Now it is furious at neighbouring countries’ “stand-by force” declaration.
The military power grab is stoking fears Russia and the Wagner mercenary group could use the coup to their advantage.
French President Emmanuel Macron said attacks on France and its interests would not be tolerated and anyone who attacked French citizens would see an immediate response.
It is the seventh military takeover in West and Central Africa in less than three years with Niger seen as the West’s most stable ally in an unstable region.
Wagner’s head Yevgeny Prigozhin has weighed in,describing the coup in the African nation as part of Niger’s fight against the ‘colonisers’.
A SEAL team,along with other members of a joint special operations force,conducted the rescue,according to US officials.
Men,women and children were in distress,dehydrated and in need of medical attention when they were rescued by the International Organisation for Migration.
The new projection predicts a global population around 2 billion lower than some previous estimates.