On Tuesday 5 December, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, expressed his regret over the decision by the Niger junta to terminate the agreement establishing the legal basis for the deployment of the EUCAP Sahel Niger mission and the EU Military Partnership Mission in Niger (EUMPM Niger).
“The EU will draw the necessary operational consequences”, he warned in a press release, recalling that the EU had suspended all security and defence cooperation immediately following the coup d’état in July.
In a letter dated 4 December to the EU delegation in Niger, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs withdrew from the agreement between Niger and the EU on the status of the EUCAP Sahel Niger mission. According to the agreement, the withdrawal enters into force six months after the date of receipt of this notification. The ministry also announced the withdrawal of the consent granted for the EUMPM deployment and, “consequently”, the withdrawal of the privileges and immunities granted at the end of November 2022.
EUCAP Sahel Niger was launched in 2012 and EUMPM last year. According to Mr Borrell, EUCAP Sahel Niger has trained more than 20,000 members of the internal security forces and equipped and trained 6 mobile units of the Gendarmerie, the National Guard and the Police, each with 150 elite members. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)