In a very under-reported letter to the United Nations Security Council, Aboubacar Daddo, the United Nations Representative stationed in Niamey reported a long series of egregious violations of international law committed by France against the new government in Niger.

In the letter, the ECOWAS sanctions against Niger are denounced as being against regional and international law – without any authorization sought from the Security Council; the French ambassador’s presence in Niamey in defiance of the Nigerien request for him to leave is seen as similarly problematic while France’s refusal to recognize the legitimacy of the cancellation of the military pact linking it to Bazoum is in itself illegitimate, according to this United Nations expert.

Worse still, the letter goes on to document that on Aug. 9, French troops released terrorists whose leaders were then convened in a meeting with a view to attack Nigerien positions in the three border regions. Not to speak of repeatedly violated Nigerien airspace by French aircraft. But when the new Prime Minister of Niger, Ali Lamine Zeine, writes to the Secretary General of the UN to inform him that he will be representing his country at the Assembly General opening in New York this month, António Guterres responds that “You are not invited.”