The Niger Crisis Worsens As More European Countries Leave

In the first evacuation flight, since mutinous troops toppled the nation’s democratically elected president over a week ago and closed its borders, a French military transport jet transporting Europeans left Niger on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, France, Italy, and Spain confirmed that their citizens and other European nationals will be evacuated from Niger. They fear that by supporting a military coup that was supported by three other West African countries that were also run by mutinous soldiers, they run the risk of becoming trapped.

One of the justifications given by France’s foreign ministry for its choice to provide evacuation flights to several hundred of its people and other Europeans was recent violence that targeted its mission in Niamey, the country’s capital.

It stated that “our compatriots are unable to leave the country by their means” due to the closure of Niger’s airspace.

Italy also stated it was setting up a flight, and Spain’s defense minister revealed plans to evacuate more than 70 of its citizens. German citizens were encouraged to accept France’s offer to fly them out by the foreign ministry there.

The evacuations take place as a result of a crisis that has worsened since Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president of Niger, was overthrown last week. Western governments that were collaborating with Niger to fight West African radicals are hurt by his apparent ouster.

The Associated Press was informed by a former French military official who had been instructing the Nigerien army that he was leaving even though his “job is not finished.”

Speaking under the condition of anonymity for security reasons, he claimed that the military takeover occurred rapidly and that many people were affected.

On Sunday, the ECOWAS regional organization in West Africa issued travel and economic restrictions against Niger and threatened to use force if the coup leaders did not restore Mr. Bazoum within a week.

But the military regimes in Mali and Burkina Faso supported the new junta. Any military action taken against Niger, they declared, “will be viewed as a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali.”

The two nations rejected the economic sanctions imposed by ECOWAS as “illegal, illegitimate, and inhumane” and refused to implement them.

All business and financial dealings between ECOWAS members and Niger have been halted, and all Niger-related assets held by regional central banks have been frozen. Foreign aid is mainly reliant on Niger, and sanctions may make its more than 25 million citizens even poorer.

Since 2020, there have been two coups in each Mali and Burkina Faso when troops ousted administrations because they could better combat the spread of Islamist militancy associated with the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

Both nations have been subject to ECOWAS sanctions and membership suspensions, but no use of force has ever been contemplated.

Guinea, another nation governed by the military since 2021, also released a statement endorsing the junta in Niger and implores ECOWAS to “come to its senses.”

The 15-nation ECOWAS has attempted, with varying degrees of success, to defend democracies against the prospect of coups since the 1990s.

The evacuations followed rioting on Sunday against the French Embassy, during which protesters set fire to a door and broke windows before being dispersed by the Nigerien army.

Numerous thousands of junta loyalists flooded the streets of Niamey. Some people brandished Russian flags while holding posters that read “Down with France” and supported Russian President Vladimir Putin while urging the rest of the world to stay away.

The references to Russia have not been adequately explained, but some protesters saw them as a sign of their anti-Western sentiments.

According to analysts, Niger may be following in the footsteps of Mali and Burkina Faso, where after their military coups there were demonstrators carrying Russian flags.