PARIS: France has evacuated 736 persons from Niger, where a military coup has recently taken place, and is preparing the next evacuation flight, Sputnik quoted the French Foreign Ministry on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, the ministry said the first two evacuation flights had landed in Paris, evacuating 350 French nationals, as well as citizens of other countries, including Niger, Portugal, Belgium, Ethiopia, Lebanon, Germany, Canada, India, the United States and Austria.
“The three flights from Niamey (Niger’s capital) have evacuated 736 people, including 498 French citizens. A fourth flight is currently being prepared,” the ministry wrote on Twitter.
Later in the day, the ministry added that the fourth evacuation flight left Niger, bringing the total number of evacuees to nearly 1,000.
“The fourth plane with evacuees is heading to France, bringing the number of evacuees to 992, including 560 French citizens, as well as many foreign citizens,” the ministry said on Twitter.
A group of six Dutch nationals also left the country on Wednesday, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said.
“We keep in close contact with the Dutch people who are still in Niger and do everything we can to get those who want to leave on a flight,” Hoekstra added in a statement.
On July 26, Niger’s presidential guard detained President Mohamed Bazoum. The guard’s commander, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, proclaimed himself the country’s new leader. The French Foreign Ministry said French President Emmanuel Macron had spoken to Bazoum on Friday and that Paris continued to recognise him as the only legitimate leader of the African country.
On July 30, thousands of people took part in a rally against France and the Economic Community of West African States in the Nigerien capital of Niamey on Sunday, opposing their condemnation of the coup in the country.
Following the protest, France started evacuating its citizens and other European nationals. On Tuesday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the European Union had decided to evacuate all its citizens from Niger.
In Washington, the US State Department on Wednesday ordered a partial evacuation of the US embassy in Niger, citing the unstable situation in the west African country following a recent coup, reported Xinhua.
In an update to the travel advisory on the embassy’s website, the State Department said it “ordered the departure of non-emergency US government employees and eligible family members” from the embassy in Niger’s capital city of Niamey, adding that the embassy “has temporarily reduced its personnel, suspended routine services, and is only able to provide emergency assistance to US citizens in Niger.”
During a press briefing earlier in the day, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the embassy is and will remain open, and that the US government remains engaged with Niger diplomatically “at the highest levels.”
Noting that Washington has been “monitoring the situation on the ground,” Miller said the administration doesn’t have information about the exact number of ordinary US citizens now travelling or residing in Niger, since it is believed that the vast majority of them didn’t register with the embassy when entering the country. – BERNAMA-XINHUA-SPUTNIK
