The Minister of Defence, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, has reacted to the decision of the Nigerien government to send French soldiers away from the country. The last French troops deployed to Niger to help fight a decade-old Islamist insurgency in the Sahel left the country last December, sealing a withdrawal that dealt a further blow to France’s influence in West Africa. Army officers who seized power in Niger in July made France’s military exit one of their key demands, echoing juntas in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali who severed long-standing security ties with France after coups in 2020-20…