France Prepares to Evacuate European Citizens From Niger

France said it is preparing to evacuate its citizens and those of other European countries from Niger on Tuesday after a weekend attack on its embassy by pro-Russian protesters supporting last week’s coup in the West African nation.

The planned evacuation shows that France and other European governments expect their citizens to be at higher risk in Niger, a country that has been a key ally for the U.S. and Europe in combating Islamist militants in the Sahel, the semiarid strip south of the Sahara. 

Western officials worry that the military junta that detained Niger’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, last week could develop closer ties with Russia, especially if France, Niger’s former colonial power, and the U.S., cut military aid to the junta. On Sunday, thousands of pro-coup protesters, some of them waving Russian flags and placards demanding a French exit from Niger, threw stones at the French Embassy in the capital Niamey.

“Given the situation in Niamey, the violence that took place against our embassy the day before yesterday and the closure of airspace, which leaves our compatriots without the possibility of leaving the country by their own means, France is preparing the evacuation of its nationals and European nationals wishing to leave the country,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “The evacuation will start today,” it added.

The U.S. State Department, the U.S.-Africa Command and the U.S. Embassy in Niamey didn’t immediately respond to questions on whether Washington has plans to evacuate American citizens from Niger.

On Monday night, the military leaders of Mali and Burkina Faso—two of Niger’s neighbors that have allied with Moscow after their own coups d’etats—said they would help defend the Nigerien junta should other West African countries try to use force to free Bazoum and return him to power. 

On Sunday, hours after the attack on the French Embassy, leaders from the Economic Community of West African States said they would consider a military intervention in Niger if the coup plotters didn’t back down within a week.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna on Monday denied claims by the Nigerien junta that Paris would participate in a military intervention. “France’s only priority is the safety of its nationals,” she said in an evening TV interview.

Colonna blamed the junta and Russia for the attack on the French Embassy.

“What we saw [on Sunday] was an organized, non-spontaneous, violent, extremely dangerous protest, with Molotov cocktails, Russian flags, anti-French slogans copied and pasted from what we can see elsewhere,” she said. “So all the usual ingredients of destabilization in the Russian-African style.” 

The foreign minister said around 1,000 French citizens live in Niger, but about half of them are currently on vacation outside the country. That number doesn’t include some 1,500 French troops that are stationed in Niger and who will remain there, the French defense ministry said.

France deployed troops to the Sahel to help fight Islamic State and al Qaeda-linked militants in 2013 under Socialist President François Hollande. It was forced to scale back its presence and focus its efforts in Niger, where Bazoum was an ally, after the coups in Mali and Burkina Faso. 

The U.S. also has some 1,100 soldiers stationed in Niger, where they have helped train local special forces and supported them on missions. The country also hosts American drones and has been the centerpiece of U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel.

—Michael M. Phillips contributed to this article.

Write to Noemie Bisserbe at [email protected] and Gabriele Steinhauser at [email protected]