拥抱太阳的月亮

前段时间，法国在俄乌问题上颇出风头，马克龙公然鼓吹对乌出兵，让世人看到了法国罕见的强硬。    COTONOU, Benin -- French troops have started leaving Niger more than two months after mutinous soldiers toppled the African country’s democratically elected president, the military said Wednesday. More than 100 troops left in two flights from the capital Niamey on Tuesday in the first of what will be several rounds of departures between now and the end of the year, said French military spokesman, Col. Pierre Gaudilliere. All are returning to France, he said. Niger’s state television broadcast images of a convoy leaving a base in Ouallam in the north, saying it was bound for neighboring Chad, to the east. The departure comes weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will end its military presence in Niger and pull its ambassador out of the country as a result of the coup that removed President Mohamed Bazoum in late July. Some 1,500 French troops have been operating in Niger, training its military and conducting joint operations.Also Tuesday, the junta gave the United Nations resident coordinator in Niger, Louise Aubin, 72 hours to leave the country, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry. The junta cited “underhanded maneuvers” by the U.N. secretary-general to prevent its full participation in last month’s General Assembly in New York as one of the reasons.The military rulers had wanted Niger’s former ambassador to the United Nations, Bakary Yaou Sangare, who was made foreign minister after the coup, to speak on its behalf at the General Assembly. However, Bakary did not receive credentials to attend after the deposed Nigerien government’s foreign minister sent the world body a letter “informing of the end of functions of Mr. Bakary as permanent representative of Niger to the United Nations,” said U.N. spokesman, Stephane Dujarric.The U.N. did not immediately respond about the junta's demand for Aubin to leave. Since seizing power, Niger’s military leaders have leveraged anti-French sentiment among the population against its former colonial ruler and said the withdrawal signals a new step towards its sovereignty.The United States has formally declared that the ousting of Bazoum was a coup, suspending hundreds of millions of dollars in aid as well as military assistance and training. Niger was seen by many in the West as the last country in Africa's Sahel region — the vast expanse south of the Sahara Desert — that could be partnered with to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. French troops have already been ousted by military regimes in neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, which are seeing a surge in attacks.Analysts warn that France's withdrawal will leave a security vacuum that extremists could exploit. “French forces might not have defeated these groups, but at least disrupted and limited their activities, said said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan-based think tank.With the French out of the picture, these will likely "expand to areas where French forces were providing support to Nigerien forces, especially on the borders with Mali and Burkina Faso,” Lyammouri said. Violence has already spiked since the coup. In the month after the junta seized power, violence primarily linked to the extremists soared by more than 40%, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. Jihadi attacks targeting civilians quadrupled in August, compared with the month before, and attacks against security forces spiked in the Tillaberi region, killing at least 40 soldiers, the project reported.___Associated Press writer Angela Charlton in Paris contributed to his report.。但不久前，法国身上却又发生这样两件尴尬事。

美军被尼日尔驱逐一事让美国颇为难堪，在非洲国家“下逐客令”问题，法国和美国可谓难兄难弟。法国先后被马里、布基纳法索和尼日尔要求撤军，而今，又一西非国家质疑起法国驻军。

毫无疑问，法国是松科的头号针对对象。首先，法国曾对塞内加尔实施殖民统治；其次，松科本人此前没少指控法国对塞内加尔的干涉；第三，马里、布基纳法索和尼日尔三国组成的“萨赫勒国家联盟”几乎是公然站到法国的对立面，松科却公然宣布处方“萨赫勒国家联盟”，明显是在向“萨赫勒国家联盟”靠拢，不禁让人怀疑，塞内加尔也将效仿萨赫勒国家。

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另外，法国目前在塞内加尔驻军约为350人，对塞内加尔而言，就算法国不愿撤军，驱逐这350人也颇有可行性。

对法国而言，一旦法国对塞内加尔彻底失控，西共体将进一步撕裂，加剧法国在西非势力的萎缩，不禁让人怀疑，法国在西非的影响力是否很快将迎来末日，法国是否会被彻底赶出非洲。而一旦失去非洲的经济“输血”，法国的综合实力必将大打折扣。法国前总统希拉克可曾犀利地指出，没有非洲的法国将沦为第三世界国家。

近日，法国突然指控国指控阿塞拜疆在法国统治的地盘煽动叛乱。

据悉，新喀里多尼亚是法国统治的太平洋岛屿，在法国看来，阿塞拜疆似乎有支持新喀里多尼亚独立之嫌。然而，阿塞拜疆回应称，法国应停止对阿塞拜疆的无端指控，而应关注自己对海外领土的无端政策。不难看出，阿塞拜疆态度很强硬，也颇有对法国不满的味道，阿塞拜疆这番回应，只怕会加重法国对阿塞拜疆立场和背后动作的怀疑。

那么，阿塞拜疆为何会和法国较上劲？关键还在于法国对亚美尼亚的支持。

三 | 阿塞拜疆没少对欧盟在亚阿冲突中支持亚美尼亚表示不满，甚至点名批评法国，称法国对亚美尼亚提供军事援助可能导致新的武装冲突。这似乎意味着，阿塞拜疆有理由报复法国，对法国而言，接下来，法国只怕不得不提升对阿塞拜疆动向的警惕。

不过，如果按照法国的说法，连阿塞拜疆都能将手伸到太平洋，阿塞拜疆都有这么大能量能让法国如此忌惮头疼，只怕难堪的反而是法国，让人更加质疑法国应对海外领土、海外势力问题上无力。

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