https://ghostarchive.org/archive/9baOO
France will begin evacuating its nationals from Niger on Tuesday, the foreign ministry said, after a coup there last week toppled the country’s pro-Western leader.
The decision to move citizens out was prompted by attacks on the French embassy in the capital Niamey, and the closure of Niger’s airspace which made regular departures impossible, the ministry said in a statement.
France had earlier on Tuesday said that it was preparing an evacuation “in the face of a deteriorating security situation in Niamey” but gave no time frame.
The foreign ministry said France was offering to evacuate other European nationals wanting to leave.
Italy also said on Tuesday it would offer a special flight to repatriate its nationals from Niamey.
“The Italian government has decided to offer our fellow nationals present in Niamey the possibility to leave the city with a special flight for Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani tweeted.
The ministry said it was “not an evacuation” but “a special flight for those who want to leave the country”.
Niger President Mohamed Bazoum, 63, was detained by his own presidential guard in a third coup in as many years in the Sahel, following putsches in neighbouring fellow former French colonies Mali and Burkina Faso.
Former colonial power France and the United States have between them deployed 2,600 soldiers in Niger to battle jihadists.
On Monday Niger’s junta accused France of seeking to “intervene militarily” to reinstate Bazoum, which French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna denied.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday vowed “immediate and uncompromising” action if French citizens or interests were attacked, after thousands rallied outside the French embassy in Niamey.
Some tried to enter the compound but were dispersed by tear gas.
Colonna said the demonstration had been “organised, not spontaneous, violent, extremely dangerous, with Molotov cocktails, Russian flags appeared, anti-French slogans (that were) an exact copy of what you can hear elsewhere”.
Junta-led neighbours Burkina Faso and Mali have warned that any military intervention in Niger to restore the deposed president would be considered a declaration of war against their two countries.
Their warning came a day after West African leaders, supported by their Western partners, threatened to use “force” to reinstate the democratically-elected Bazoum and slapped financial sanctions on the putschists.
In a joint statement on Monday, the governments of Burkina Faso and Mali warned that “any military intervention against Niger would be tantamount to a declaration of war against Burkina Faso and Mali”.
They said the “disastrous consequences of a military intervention in Niger … could destabilise the entire region”.
The two also said they “refuse to apply” the “illegal, illegitimate and inhumane sanctions against the people and authorities of Niger”.
At an emergency summit on Sunday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded that Bazoum be reinstated within a week, failing which it would take “all measures” to restore constitutional order.
“Such measures may include the use of force for this effect,” it said in a statement.
The bloc also slapped financial sanctions on the junta leaders and the country, freezing “all commercial and financial transactions” between member states and Niger, one of the world’s poorest nations, which often ranks last on the UN’s Human Development Index
Pressure to push the perpetrators of the July 26 coup to quickly restore constitutional order is building from Western and African partners in Niger, a country considered essential in the fight against jihadist groups that have ravaged parts of the Sahel region for years.
Russia has called for the swift return of “the rule of law” and “restraint from all parties” in Niger.
Macron has spoken to Bazoum several times as well as to regional leaders, the presidential palace in Paris said.
Bazoum – a Western ally whose election just over two years ago marked Niger’s first peaceful transition of power since independence from France in 1960 – was toppled by the elite Presidential Guard.
Guards chief General Abdourahamane Tiani declared himself leader, but his claim has been rejected internationally and ECOWAS has given him a week to hand back power.
Bazoum is one of a dwindling group of elected presidents and pro-Western leaders in the Sahel, where since 2020 a jihadist insurgency has also triggered coups in Mali and Burkina Faso.
Bazoum’s PNDS party on Monday warned that Niger risked becoming a “dictatorial and totalitarian regime” after a series of arrests.
The country’s oil minister and mining minister were arrested that morning, according to the party. The head of the PNDS’s national executive committee was also arrested.
The PNDS said the junta had previously arrested the interior and transport ministers along with a former defence minister.
The European Union condemned the arrest of ministers from the ousted government and demanded they be freed immediately.
Do you think a jihadist regime will be closer to a democratic society? From my understanding of religious extremism, it would probably make it less democratic.
If Castro was a religious zealot I’d also prefer Batista stay in power tbh. Castro was more secular though so I don’t see it as inherently doomed to an even more fucked up level of abuse and control and wouldn’t hold the same perspective. Because the two scenarios are noticeably different.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like the idea of colonial territories being made economically independent and such but I don’t think a movement that self describes as jihadist will get them going in the right direction to a just society.
I’m less concerned about democracy in the poorest country in the world and significantly more concerned with building out the infrastructure it requires. Getting out from underneath colonial rule is a pre-requisite to progress in that domain. That either comes from a coup or from a revolution, I don’t particularly care which.
Even if it did have a level of religious control and involvement(there’s no evidence of that so far) we shouldn’t let that cloud our judgement of whether it would be progressive politically for the country. If it results in the construction of infrastructure, or independent political structures, and a foundation from which the country can go its own way, then it is progressive.
Let me put it to you this way. If progress is impossible under whatever the current regime is (in this case it was a French colony) then anything and everything that moves the dial away from that becomes progressive as it opens the door to further movement in the direction that we would like to see.
In months/years to come will opposing this government and calling for progress be something I end up doing? Probably. (and that would represent further progress that was not possible under the previous French colonial arrangement) But for this exact moment in time I am mostly optimistic.
The main apprehension I have is over where France goes to get their uranium next. This take was doing the rounds yesterday. However I think it’s probably wrong as there are quite a lot of different places to get uranium from, and also Niger’s own uranium will end up on the global market anyway. But I’ll be keeping an eye on what the French response to its energy needs are just in case.
The attitude “they’re poor and starving and being exploited to the hilt… but at least they’re not religious” does not hold much sway with me. I’ll take the latter if it improves some of the former where it previously could not have been achieved, then deal with the latter in further steps.
A jihadist coup won’t result in the infrastructure you hope for. It will result similarly to other jihadist nations, torn apart by sectarian violence and religious oppression. It’s telling that you want to overlook that aspect to focus on geopolitical intrigue that doesn’t affect the daily lives of Nigerians.
I never said a coup in theory was bad. I’m saying this coup is bad because sometimes it turns out that bad people can be couped by worse people.
Progressive movements will never be fueled by religious fundamentalism, your waffling about how a religiously zealous Castro could be progressive is you playing dumb because if you actually believe in progressive ideals you’d know organized religion back by the state is the opposite of those ideals.
I don’t know why you and others keep calling it a jihadist coup.
The accusation by the media has been that this might lead to jihadists gaining greater power in the region as a result of taking advantage of the destabilisation. Not that these people themselves are jihadists.
My response takes that into account.
Yup, exactly, just like Afghanistan freed itself from external influence, and now you can see they are the envy of the developing world!