First evacuation flight from Niger lands at Paris airport

Issued on: 02/08/2023 – 03:49

2 min

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, Nigerian, 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 Niger’s powerful presidential guard, General Abdourahamane Tiani, has declared himself the country’s 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)