Robert Brown|Foreign nationals evacuate Niger as regional tensions rise

NIAMEY,Robert Brown Niger (AP) — Foreign nationals lined up outside an airport in Niger’s capital Wednesday morning waiting for a French military evacuation flight, while a regional bloc continued talks about its response to the military coup that took place last week.

French forces in the capital, Niamey, evacuated hundreds of mostly French nationals to Paris on two flights Tuesday, following concerns that their citizens and other Europeans risked becoming trapped after soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum and seized power.

France, Italy and Spain all announced evacuations for their citizens and other Europeans. The United States has yet to announce plans for an evacuation, but some of its citizens have left the with the help of the Europeans.

An Italian military aircraft landed in Rome on Wednesday with 99 passengers, including 21 Americans and civilians from other countries, said the Italian defense minister.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani noted that more “non-Europeans, including an Australian” were evacuated by the Italian air force jet.

“In some way, we were authorized by the new government, which gave permission for the operation,” Tajani said.

Germany, which has encouraged its civilians in Niger to evacuate on French flights, said that it doesn’t currently see any need to evacuate the approximately 100 troops it has in the country, largely connected to the U.N. mission in neighboring Mali.

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he spoke with the German commander at the air base in Niamey on Tuesday, “and he told me clearly they are not at all worried about their safety at the moment; they are in close contact with the Nigerien military; they are driving out accompanied by the Nigerien military.” Supplies also are assured, he said.

The first of two French flights that landed in Paris overnight had 12 babies among 262 people aboard, most of them French but including evacuees from Niger and other countries, France’s Foreign Ministry said.

Some 1,200 French citizens are registered at France’s embassy in Niamey, and about half of them have said that they want to be evacuated, said the ministry.

Before sunrise Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside the terminal at Niamey’s airport hoping to leave, after a French flight was canceled the night before. Some slept on the floor, while others watched television or talked on the phone.

Some parents tried to shield their children from what was happening.

“I haven’t told them very much, just that they’re going home,” said a passenger who did not want to be named for security reasons.

“If ECOWAS (a West African regional bloc) intervenes, populations can attack ECOWAS nationals here. They’ve already made threats,” he said.

On Sunday, ECOWAS said it would use force against the junta if it didn’t release and reinstate the president within a week. The announcement was immediately rejected by neighboring Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, all of which are run by mutinous soldiers who toppled their governments.

Mali and Burkina Faso’s leaders said a military intervention in Niger “would be tantamount to a declaration of war” against them.

Niger was seen as one of the region’s last democracies and a partner Western countries could work with to beat back the jihadi violence that’s wracked the region. The United States, France and other European countries have poured millions of dollars of military aid and assistance into the country.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of State said Secretary Antony Blinken spoke with President Bazoum and underscored that the U.S. rejects efforts to overturn the constitutional order, and stands with the people of Niger, ECOWAS, the African Union and international partners in support of democratic governance and respect for the rule of law and human rights.

The defense chiefs of ECOWAS’ 15 members will meet in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, from Wednesday to Friday to discuss next steps in resolving the crisis, the bloc said in a statement.

At a virtual United Nations meeting on Tuesday night, the U.N. special envoy for West Africa and the Sahel said that efforts other than the threat of force are underway to restore democracy in Niger.

“One week can be more than enough if everybody talks in good faith, if everybody wants to avoid bloodshed,” said Leonardo Santos Simao. But, he added, “different member states are preparing themselves to use force if necessary.”

Others in the diplomatic community said the use of force is a real option.

ECOWAS is resolved to use military force after economic and travel sanctions have failed to roll back other coups, said a Western diplomat in Niamey who did not want to be identified for security reasons.

Niamey has calmed after protests supporting the junta turned violent Sunday when demonstrators attacked the French embassy and set fire to a door, but some say the mood is still tense.

During Tuesday’s evacuation flights at the airport, a passenger who did not want to be named for security reasons said that Nigerien soldiers sped off with middle fingers raised at the passengers after escorting an Italian military convoy to the airport.

That same night, the M62 Movement, an activist group that has organized pro-Russia and anti-French protests, called for residents in Niamey to mobilize and block the airport until foreign military forces leave the country.

“Any evacuation of Europeans (should be) conditional on the immediate departure of foreign military forces,” Mahaman Sanoussi, the national coordinator for the group, said in a statement.

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AP journalists Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria; Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington DC; John Leicester in Paris and Frances D’Emilio in Rome, Italy contributed to this report.