2023-08-02 20:00:41
France began Tuesday August 1 to evacuate hundreds of French and European citizens from Niger days after a junta toppled Western-backed President Mohamed Bazoum and amid a call for the withdrawal of all foreign forces. in this poor West African country.
“Almost all of the passengers are compatriots” as well as “a few European nationals”. France, Italy and Spain had all announced evacuations from Niger for their citizens and other European nationals.
The evacuation came days after thousands of Nigerien protesters burned the French flag and attacked the French embassy in Niger’s capital on Sunday, several days after a junta deposed and detained President Bazoum.
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The West African regional bloc of CEDEAO gave the junta a week on Sunday to curb Bazoum on pain of military intervention. Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea rejected the threat and indicated that any intervention would mean a “declaration of war” and the disintegration of the regional organization.
The junta also accused Paris of planning a military intervention. The coup dealt a blow to Western powers, mainly France, Germany and the United States, all of which had military troops in the impoverished, landlocked country.
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