Russian flags in Niger should be a wake-up call for Europe that the EU's "soft power" is much weaker than the Europeans expected, Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg said on Thursday.
In early August, media reported that thousands of people had taken to the streets of Niamey in support of a military coup in Niger. A Sputnik correspondent reported that some demonstrators were seen carrying Russian flags.
"I think that what happened in Africa, especially in the Sahel region, should really be a wake-up call for us. The fact that in Niger, for example, Russian flags were waving to French songs shows that our 'soft power' is much less than we might have wished or thought." Schallenberg told reporters during the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Spanish city of Toledo.
Niger's National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) has demanded the complete withdrawal of French troops from the West African country by September 3, the Sky News Arabia broadcaster reported on Wednesday.
On July 26, Niger's presidential guard ousted and detained President Mohamed Bazoum. The guard's commander, Gen. Abdourahmane Tchiani, proclaimed himself the president of the caretaker CNSP-led government. Most Western countries as well as ECOWAS condemned it. In early August, ECOWAS adopted a plan for a possible military intervention in Niger.