On Tuesday, a French military transport plane conducted the first evacuation flight of Europeans from Niger since mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president nearly a week ago and closed its borders.

Following suit, France, Italy, and Spain also announced plans to evacuate their citizens and other European nationals from Niger.

Concerned about the possibility of being trapped in the aftermath of the coup, they took action as three other West African nations, also ruled by mutinous soldiers, lent support to the coup, the Associated Press has reported.

Approximately 600 French nationals and 400 people from various other nationalities, including Belgians and Danes, expressed a desire to leave the country, according to French officials.

The initial evacuation flight primarily carried French nationals, and authorities intend to complete the evacuation operations by Wednesday.

Due to the closure of Niger’s airspace, France collaborated with the regime that ousted the nation’s leader to coordinate these evacuations.

Despite this, France maintained its support for democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, as clarified by diplomatic officials.

Written by staff