French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday announced that Paris will end its military presence in Niger by the end of 2023, CNN reported. He also announced that he has decided to bring back the country`s Ambassador to Niger, Sylvain Itte, to France. The development comes amid high tensions between the two nations since the military junta seized power in Niger in July.

Macron said, "We are putting an end to our military cooperation with the de facto authorities of Niger because they don`t want to fight terrorism anymore," CNN reported. The decision to end the "cooperation" has been taken "because we are not there to deal with internal politics and be hostages of putschists," the French President said while referring to the military group.