France began Tuesday evening to evacuate civilians, the vast majority of them French, by plane, its first mass evacuation in the Sahel where coups d’etat have multiplied since 2020. The French authorities wish to close the operations on Wednesday at midday. A third plane landed at the end of the afternoon at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport. A fourth and final aircraft is expected next night, with each plane seating approximately 280 people.
The main information to remember:
- The junta accused France on Monday of wanting to “intervene militarily”, which Paris firmly denied.
- Two planes carrying French nationals arrived at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday
- A third aircraft arrived around 7 p.m. The fourth and last is scheduled for next night
- Of the approximately 1,200 French people registered on the consular lists in Niger, according to Paris, 600 nationals would like to return to France
- A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is currently in Niger to “negotiate” with the putschists
The third plane has just landed
The third aircraft carrying French nationals landed at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport shortly before 7 p.m. The plane landed several hours late due to difficulties in reaching Niamey airport in the early afternoon. Upon landing, they were taken care of in a secure area with large red and white tents, accessible only to families and rescuers, as some need medical help and were therefore welcomed by the Samu and the Cross -Red.
Colonel Pierre Gaudillière hails the effectiveness of the evacuations
Asked at the microphone of Europe 1, about the evacuation operations, General Pierre Gaudillière, spokesman for the general staff of the armies, welcomed an effective organization despite the urgency of the situation. “We can already talk about responsiveness within really tight deadlines. We should also note the very good coordination of all the actors and in particular between the armed forces and the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs. All this is possible because we talks to each other regularly,” he said. The army will support the operations until next night. No other mission being planned for the moment, the French wishing to stay on the spot and the tricolor soldiers present in Niger will therefore not be evacuated.
Nigeria has cut its electricity supply to Niger
Nigeria has cut its electricity supply to Niger, AFP learned on Wednesday from a source close to the management of the Nigerien Electricity Company (Nigelec), in line with the sanctions decided by the West African neighbors of Niger destabilized by a coup. “Nigeria disconnected since yesterday (Tuesday) the high voltage line that carries electricity to Niger,” the source said. A Nigelec agent for his part indicated that the capital, Niamey, was “supplied thanks to local production”.
On Sunday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), led by Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, decided on sanctions against the putschists who overthrew elected President Mohamed Bazoum a week ago. In addition to a one-week ultimatum to restore constitutional order and the suspension of financial transactions with Niger, ECOWAS decreed the freezing of “all service transactions, including energy transactions”. According to a report by Nigelec – the country’s sole supplier -, in 2022, 70% of Niger’s share of electricity came from purchases from the Nigerian company Mainstream.
ECOWAS is in Niger
A delegation from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is currently in Niger to “negotiate” with the putschists, one of the ECOWAS officials said on Wednesday at the opening of the meeting of West African Chiefs of Staff in Abuja.
“The President of the ECOWAS Commission would have liked to be here, but as we speak, he is in Niger as part of a high-level delegation led by the former Head of State of Nigeria, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, with a view to negotiating,” said ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs and Security, Abdulfatar Musa.
The first expatriates arrive in Paris
A first plane took off from Niamey in the evening and landed shortly after 11:30 p.m. GMT at Paris-Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. “There are 262 people on board the plane, which is an Airbus A330, including a dozen babies,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told AFP in the evening, explaining that “almost all passengers are compatriots”.
In addition to a large majority of French people, Nigeriens, Portuguese, Belgians, Ethiopians and Lebanese also landed, the Quai d’Orsay told the press present in Roissy. The evacuation was “well organized, it was fairly quick, for me everything went very well”, testified Bernard, who has been working for the European Union for two months in Niger. “In Niamey, there are no particular tensions in the city, no particular stress, the population goes about its business,” described this man, who left with the bare minimum.
“It feels good,” said relieved Raïssa Kelembho, who returned from Niger with her two boys. “At one point, there was a feeling of insecurity, we knew that everything could change,” explained the mother, whose husband remained in Niger for work. A second flight was to land overnight, with French, Nigerians, Germans, Belgians, Canadians, Americans, Austrians and Indians on board, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
600 French people wish to return
Of the approximately 1,200 French people registered on the consular lists in Niger, according to Paris, 600 nationals would like to return to France. The authorities’ wish is to close the operation by midday on Wednesday. Four repatriation planes have so far been planned. The evacuation of the French soldiers stationed in Niger is on the other hand “not on the agenda”, had previously indicated to the press the general staff of the French armies.
The German Foreign Ministry recommended during the day “all its nationals in Niamey” to accept France’s offer, when Italy announced that it was ready to evacuate its nationals from Niamey. The United States has not made any evacuation decision at this time, the White House said on Tuesday.
Paris justifies the evacuation by the “violence that took place” against its embassy on Sunday during a demonstration hostile to France, and by “the closure of airspace which leaves our compatriots without the possibility of leaving the country by their own means”.
Italy evacuated around 100 foreign nationals
A hundred foreign nationals residing in Niger arrived in Rome on Wednesday morning, evacuated by Italy for security reasons after the military coup that took place last week in this Sahelian country, announced the authorities of the peninsula.
Departing from Niamey, an Italian Air Force Boeing 767 landed shortly after 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) at Ciampino airport in Rome with 99 Italian nationals and other nationalities on board. “Safe return of 99 passengers, Italians and foreigners, who left Niger”, welcomed the Italian Minister of Defense Guido Crosetto on Twitter, recently renamed “X”.
According to the Ansa agency, 36 Italians and 21 Americans are among the nationals evacuated, welcomed on their arrival by the head of diplomacy Antonio Tajani. Just under 500 Italian nationals reside in Niger, most of whom are military personnel.
Reopening of Niger borders
Niamey, through the voice of a putschist, however announced on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday the reopening of Niger’s “land and air borders” with five neighboring countries (Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad). In the Nigerien capital, after heavy rains on Tuesday morning, activities resumed and few security force vehicles were visible, AFP journalists noted. “We have no problems with the French”, nor with “European nationals, we have problems with European governments”, assures Hamidou Ali, a 58-year-old Nigerian. A student, Mahamadou Issoufou Idi, judges him that “the French have only to leave”.
France, a former colonial power in the region and staunch supporter of President Bazoum, who has been detained since July 26 in his presidential residence, appears to be the preferred target of the soldiers who overthrew him, led by General Abdourahamane Tiani. The M62 movement, at the initiative of a pro-coup demonstration, denounced on Tuesday the evacuation organized by France, wishing the suspension of some of its media and calling for a “peaceful rally every day” near the airport , “until the final departure of the foreign forces” present in the country.
“Declaration of war”
The junta accused France on Monday of wanting to “intervene militarily”, which Paris firmly denied. On Monday evening, Burkina Faso and Mali, neighbors of Niger and also governed by the military, showed their solidarity with the putschists by saying that any military intervention to restore Mohamed Bazoum would be considered “a declaration of war” on their two countries. and would lead to their withdrawal from ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States).
They added that they refused to apply the “illegal, illegitimate and inhuman sanctions against the people and the authorities of Niger” decided on Sunday by ECOWAS in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria. West African leaders, backed by their Western partners, including France, have given the military junta in Niger a one-week ultimatum for a “full return to constitutional order”, claiming not to rule out a “recourse to strength” if this was not the case.
In this context, ECOWAS announced Tuesday evening that the chiefs of staff of the countries that compose it would meet from Wednesday to Friday in Abuja, about the putsch in Niger. In addition, a delegation from ECOWAS, led by the Nigerian Abdulsalami Abubakar, is due to go to Niger on Wednesday, a senior official of the West African organization and a military official from Niger said on condition of anonymity. ECOWAS had also decided to “suspend all commercial and financial transactions” between its member states and Niger, and to freeze the assets of military officials involved in the coup.