The foreign minister of junta-ruled Niger has summoned the charge d’affaires at the Nigerian embassy, accusing the neighbouring nation of “serving as a rear base” to “destabilise” the country, Niger state television said.

Relations between Nigeria and its northern Sahel neighbour Niger have been tense since the military took over in Niamey in 2023 and broke away from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who is currently head of the ECOWAS bloc, had briefly considered a regional military intervention to reinstate ousted president Mohamed Bazoum.

But ties warmed in August when Abuja and Niamey resumed security cooperation that had been put on hold since the coup.

Yet relations have soured again with the fresh claims, leading to the summoning of the Nigerian charge d’affaires on Wednesday.

“Despite efforts to normalise relations, we regret that Nigeria has not given up on serving as a rear base for the destabilisation of Niger with the complicity of some foreign powers and officials of the former regime, to whom it offers refuge”, Nigerien Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare said in a statement read on national television late Thursday.

In a meeting with Niger’s army chief in late August, Nigeria’s top military commander had agreed “not to destabilise Niger or any of its neighbours”.

Meanwhile, “Niger affirmed its readiness to resume active participation in security cooperation under the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJT)”, according to a military statement.

The task force, involving Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad, has been key in battling jihadist groups active along the border areas of the four countries.

Niger’s military government is fighting jihadists linked to the Islamic State group, Al-Qaeda and Boko Haram in the western Tillaberi region and in the southeastern Diffa area near Nigeria.

Since the 2023 coup, Niger has sought closer ties with its neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, which also have military governments and with whom it has forged a strategic confederation — the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). (AFP)