On August 1, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced that a special flight from Rome will arrive in Niger's capital Niamey to pick up Italian citizens, following last week's military coup.
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| France quickly evacuated its citizens as the security situation in Niger deteriorated and the French Embassy in Nimey was burned down on July 31. (Source: Bloomberg) |
Sharing on the messaging platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Foreign Minister Tajani stated: "The Italian government has decided to arrange a special flight for citizens in Niamey who want to leave the city to Italy."
On July 31, sharing with state television station Rai 2 (Italy), this official said that less than 100 Italians are currently in Niger and they are "not in danger".
Earlier the same day, the French Foreign Ministry also confirmed that it was starting to evacuate its citizens from Niger since August 1.
The decision to evacuate citizens was made after attacks on the French Embassy in Niamey and the closure of Niger's airspace, which is currently hampering regular travel, according to the French Foreign Ministry.
The French Embassy sent a message to its citizens: “Given the deteriorating security situation in Niamey, and taking advantage of the relative calm there, an air evacuation operation from Niamey is being prepared.”
At the same time, the agency stressed that the evacuation “will take place very quickly within a limited period of time.”
In addition, the French government will also evacuate citizens from other European countries who want to leave Niger.
On July 31, the French Foreign Ministry said that the only government that Paris recognizes as legitimate in Niger is the government of President Mohamed Bazoum.
Meanwhile, Niger's military government revealed that the ousted government had authorized France to carry out an attack on the presidential palace to seek Bazoum's release.
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