đ´ Live: Evacuation flights continue from coup-hit Niger to Europe
Hour by hour
Foreign nationals lined up outside an airport in Niger's capital Wednesday morning to wait for a French military evacuation flight. Franceâs first two flights evacuated more than 350 French nationals overnight, as well as people from Niger and at least 10 other countries, the French foreign ministry said. The Paris airport authority said two more evacuation flights are scheduled to land Wednesday afternoon. Follow our liveblog for all the latest developments on coup in Niger. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
French soldiers and citizens of European countries are seen outside the Diori Hamani International Airport in Niamey on August 2, 2023.
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1:35pm: Niger junta delegation arrives in Mali capital
General Salifou Mody, one of the officers who seized power in Niger last week, has travelled to neighbouring Mali, whose junta has supported the coup leaders in the face of international pressure.
Mody, a former army chief of staff who had been fired in April, arrived in the capital Bamako at the head of a delegation, a senior Nigerien official and a Malian security official told AFP.
West African regional bloc ECOWAS said on Sunday it would use force against the junta if it didnât release and reinstate the president within a week. Mali and Burkina Fasoâs leaders slammed the ECOWAS threat, saying that a military intervention in Niger âwould be tantamount to a declaration of warâ against them.
10:55am: âNo Western military intervention in Nigerâ, says Italian FM
Any Western military intervention in Niger must be avoided, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani told RAI public television on Wednesday.
"We have to work so that democracy prevails in Niger ... we need to rule out any Western military initiative because it would be perceived as a new colonisation," Tajani said.
His comments, reported by Italian news agencies, were confirmed by his spokesman.
10:02am: Evacuees fleeing Niger coup touch down in Paris
FRANCE 24's Clovis Casali reports from Charles de Gaulle airport as evacuees arrive in France following the coup in Niger.
âTwo planes arrived in the middle of the night, and two more are expected later on todayâ, said Casali. âFor the French foreign ministry, whatâs essential is to ensure the security of these passengers and those who wish to leave Nigerâ.
'We were really unsure about our safety': Evacuees fleeing Niger coup touch down in Paris 04:15 'We were really unsure about our safety': Evacuees fleeing Niger coup touch down in Paris Š France 24
8:19am: Roughly 600 French nationals to be evacuated from Niger
About 600 French nationals out of the roughly 1,200 registered in Niger have requested to be evacuated from the country, according to French authorities. At this stage, four flights are expected to take off on Wednesday to carry out this large-scale evacuation.
5:07am: Many evacuees 'relieved' to have left Niger
Evacuees who arrived in Paris on a French government plane early Wednesday morning have said they are relieved to have left Niger after days of unrest. Many of them have also expressed concern about what will happen in the future. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris Trent reports from Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport.
01:04
2:18am: Niger reopens land and air borders with five neighbouring countries
Niger's land and air borders with five neighbouring countries have been reopened, nearly a week after they were closed following a coup that overthrew elected President Mohamed Bazoum, one of the putschists announced Tuesday on national television.
"The land and air borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali and Chad are reopened" from "today", he declared, hours after a first French evacuation flight took off and five days before a deadline to restore constitutional order issued by a bloc of West African countries.
1:52am: French plane carrying 262 evacuees from Niger lands in Paris
The first of three planes carrying mostly French and European people evacuated from Niger landed in Paris early Wednesday, a week after a coup toppled one of the last pro-Western leaders in the jihadist-plagued Sahel.
"There are 262 people on board the plane, an Airbus A330, including a dozen babies," French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna told AFP before the flight landed at Paris Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport. "Nearly all the passengers are compatriots" along with "some European nationals".
There were also Nigeriens, Portuguese, Belgians, Ethiopians and Lebanese on board, the foreign ministry told reporters at the airport. A second flight carrying French, Nigerien, German, Belgian, Canadian, American, Austrian and Indian nationals was due to land early Wednesday morning.
12:20am: ECOWAS members to meet on Wednesday
Military chiefs of members of the West African bloc ECOWAS will meet in the Nigerian capital Abuja from Wednesday to Friday to discuss the coup in Niger, the organisation said on Tuesday.
On Sunday ECOWAS slapped sanctions on Niger and warned it may use force as it gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate President Mohamed Bazoum.
Key events in Niger so far:
Niger's elected president Mohamed Bazoum has been held by the military since July 26, in the third coup in as many years to topple an elected leader in the Sahel.
The head of Nigerâs powerful presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tiani, has declared himself the countryâs new leader.
Tiani said the putsch was a response to "the degradation of the security situation" linked to jihadist bloodshed, as well as corruption and economic woes.
Former colonial ruler France and the European Union have suspended security cooperation and financial aid to Niger following the coup, while the United States warned that its aid could also be at stake.
At an emergency summit on Sunday the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) gave Tiani one week to reinstate the country's democratically elected president and have threatened to use force if the demands aren't met.
France has denied accusations from Niger's coup leaders that Paris is plotting to intervene militarily, with Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna telling FRANCE 24 that "France's only priority is the safety of our nationals".
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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Source: FRANCE 24 English
