The arrival of foreigners to Italy after being evacuated from Niger
An Italian military plane landed in Rome today, Wednesday, with 99 passengers on board, including 21 Americans and civilians from other countries.
Posted on: August 02, 2023: 12:39 PM GST Last updated: August 02, 2023: 01:11 PM GST
Foreign nationals lined up outside an airport in Niger’s capital on Wednesday morning, waiting for a third evacuation flight.
French forces in the capital, Niamey, evacuated hundreds of French nationals to Paris on two flights on Tuesday, following fears that their citizens and other Europeans would be at risk following last week’s military coup by mutinous soldiers that toppled detained President Mohamed Bazoum.
France, Italy and Spain announced the evacuation of their citizens and a number of European nationals, while the United States has not yet announced evacuation plans, but some Americans have left with the help of European countries.
The Italian Minister of Defense stated that an Italian military plane landed in Rome today, Wednesday, with 99 passengers on board, including 21 Americans and civilians from other countries.
The French Foreign Ministry also stated that the first two French flights arrived in Paris during the night, carrying 12 children among 262 people, most of whom are French, in addition to citizens from Niger, Portugal, Belgium, Ethiopia and Lebanon.
The arrival of foreigners to France after being evacuated from Niger
Before sunrise on Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside the departure hall at Niamey airport hoping to be evacuated, after a third flight was canceled the night before. Some lay on the ground, while others were seen playing electronic games or talking on the phone.
On Tuesday night, the M62 movement, an activist group that organized pro-Russian and anti-French protests, called on Niamey residents to mobilize and close the airport until foreign military forces leave the country.
“Any evacuation of Europeans (must) be conditional on the immediate departure of foreign military forces,” Mahaman Sanusi, the group’s national coordinator, said in a statement.
The French authorities are seeking to complete, by the middle of the day, Wednesday, air evacuations to remove civilian nationals from Niger, in light of the fear of deteriorating conditions.
France initially allocated four planes to evacuate civilians, the majority of whom are its nationals, in its first large-scale evacuation in the Sahel region, where military coups have increased since 2020.
Paris justified the evacuation decision by “the acts of violence that our embassy was subjected to… and the closure of the airspace, which deprives our nationals of any possibility to leave the country by their own means.”
Many French people said they did not want to leave Niger at this point. According to the French Foreign Ministry, 600 Frenchmen, out of 1,200 registered with the consular services in Niamey, expressed their desire to leave and return to their country.
Earlier, the General Staff indicated that the evacuation of French soldiers stationed in Niger “is not on the agenda.”
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2023-08-02 08:39:00
