European nations to begin evacuating citizens from Niger after coup

France and Italy has prepared on Tuesday to fly out their citizens and other Europeans from Niger on Tuesday.

President Mohamed Bazoum was overthrown on July 26 by his own guard, in the region's third putsch in as many years following takeovers in neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso.

After crowds gathered on Sunday outside the French embassy and Niger accused France of plotting to intervene militarily, Paris said on Tuesday it would withdraw its citizens and offered to evacuate other Europeans as well.

"In the face of a deteriorating security situation in Niamey and taking advantage of the relative calm in Niamey, an operation of evacuation by air is being prepared," the embassy said in a message sent to French citizens.

The evacuations "will take place very soon in a very limited span of time," it said.

A first plane later took off from Paris, said a source in France involved in the operation.

Another source said France would be using unarmed military transporters, capable of taking more than 200 people.

The French foreign ministry said there were an estimated 600 French nationals in Niger but did not give details on how many wished to leave.

In Rome, the Italian government said it was putting on a "special flight for those (Italians) who want to leave the country," adding that this was "not an evacuation".

Around 90 Italian nationals were in Niamey, out of nearly 500 across the country, it said.

The West African bloc ECOWAS on Sunday slapped sanctions on Niger and warned it may use force as it gave the coup leaders a week to reinstate Bazoum.

The following day, the junta accused France of seeking to "intervene militarily", a charge which drew a French denial, while junta-ruled Mali and Burkina Faso warned any military intervention in Niger would be a "declaration of war" against them.

Unstable

The events are unfolding in one of the poorest and most unstable countries in the world - a vast semi-desert nation that had already experienced four coups since independence in 1960.

Bazoum was feted in 2021 after winning elections that ushered in Niger's first-ever peaceful transition of power.

But his tenure was already marked by two attempted coups before last week's dramatic events, in which he was detained at his official residence by members of his elite Presidential Guard.

Guards chief General Abdourahamane Tiani has declared himself leader - but his claim has been rejected internationally, from ECOWAS, the African Union and the UN to France, the United States and the European Union.

Bazoum was seen in a photo on Sunday sitting alongside Chadian leader General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno, another pro-Western leader, who was sent to Niamey by ECOWAS.

According to Bazoum's PNDS party, the junta has arrested the country's oil, mining, interior and transport ministers, the head of the PNDS's executive committee, and a former defence minister.