APA – Niamey (Niger) – The French businessman, who has lived in Niger for some 20 years, was arrested on 8 September 2023 in Niamey by Nigerien security forces, in the backdrop of a diplomatic escalation between Niamey and Paris.
“France welcomes the release of Mr. Stephane Jullien, adviser to the French abroad, which took place in Niger on 13 September 2023,” announced the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs in a press release published on Thursday 14 September 2023.
Last Tuesday, France announced that Nigerien security forces had arrested Stephane Jullien, a Niamey-based adviser to French citizens living abroad, on 8 September, before calling for “his immediate release.”
“France is following with the utmost attention the situation of Stephane Jullien, advisor to the French abroad based in Niger, who was arrested on 8 September by Nigerien security forces. It calls for his immediate release. Since day one, our embassy has been fully mobilized to provide consular protection for our compatriot,” the Quai d’Orsay stated in a press release.
Stephane Jullien, the head of a moving company in the Sahel and who has lived in Niamey for some twenty years, was one of the few French nationals who refused to return to France during the voluntary evacuation operation decided by Paris at the beginning of August, in the wake of the coup d’Etat of 26 July 2023.
He was arrested on 8 September after Nigerien security forces discovered military fatigues bearing the insignia of the Burkina Faso air force in a van belonging to his company leaving the French embassy in Niamey. At the time, the French Embassy was under blockade following the expulsion of Ambassador Sylvain Itté by the new authorities in Niger, in the midst of a diplomatic escalation between Niamey and Paris following the overthrow of Bazoum’s government by the ‘Conseil National de la Sauvegarde de la Patrie’ (CNSP), the military junta that took power and which the French authorities still refuse to recognize.
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