Niger coup: Seventy Belgians evacuated as crisis unfolds

Some seventy Belgians and their relatives who wanted to leave Niger have now been evacuated aboard French planes, Foreign minister Hadja Lahbib said on Thursday afternoon.

France began evacuating nationals and beneficiaries from Niger earlier this week. The West African country has been in turmoil since a military coup last week. Paris said it was ready to include other Europeans in its evacuation mission.

Belgians and their relatives who had expressed a wish to leave the country were allowed to join the French planes. So far, there are about 70 of them, Lahbib reported via X (the former Twitter, ed.).

"International cooperation is proving its importance once more"

The French evacuation operation has now been completed, the French Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday morning. According to Defence minister Sébastien Lecornu, a total of 1,079 people have been evacuated from Niger, including 577 French nationals.

Belgium does remain "mobilised", Lahbib said, along with European and international partners. "International cooperation is proving its importance once more", she tweeted.

^{© PHOTO handout / Etat Major des Armées / AFP}

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