The Nigerian Government also denies the presence of French troops in the north of the country
Dec. 22 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Nigerian Government has denied that it is behind an attack perpetrated by an armed group against an oil pipeline, as the Nigerien authorities accused a few days ago.
At the center of the diplomatic tension is an attack that occurred on December 13 against a section of an oil pipeline between Niger and Benin in the Nigerien region of Dosso.
Niger believes that behind this attack is a jihadist group known as Lakurawa, linked to the Islamic State, which operates between the border between Niger and Nigeria.
In fact, the Nigerien Foreign Minister, Bakary Yaou Sangare, summoned Nigeria’s chargé d’affaires in the country last Wednesday, to whom he conveyed a protest and made the accusation that the Nigerian Government has repudiated today.
In this sense, the Nigerian Foreign Ministry assured this Sunday that “the perpetrators of the events did not receive support or assistance from the Nigerian authorities.”
“The Government of Nigeria is firmly committed to the fight against terrorism and will not tolerate or support the activities of these groups,” the Ministry said in a statement published this Saturday on its Facebook page.
NIGERIA DENIES PRESENCE OF FRENCH TROOPS
In the same statement, the Nigerian Foreign Ministry also assures that, contrary to the opinion of the Nigerien military junta, there are no French soldiers deployed in the north of the country “prepared to destabilize the Government of Niger.”
“The relationship between Nigeria and France has always been cordial, characterized by mutual respect, dignity and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs,” the ministry said of a common accusation by Niger, whose military junta has substantially cooled relations with its neighboring country since the coup d’état that it carried out in 2023 to overthrow the then Nigerien president, Mohamed Bazoum.
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