State Department Orders Partial Evacuation of U.S. Embassy in Niger

WASHINGTON—The State Department ordered Wednesday the departure of nonemergency U.S. government employees and eligible family members from Niger over concerns that tensions could escalate after the military junta detained the country’s elected president last week.

The State Department updated its advisory which had previously warned American citizens to reconsider travel to Niger because of crime, terrorism and kidnapping. It is unclear how many Americans are currently living in Niger and the State Department said it is working to assess what can be done to ensure all Americans are safe.

“The Department of State is ordering the temporary departure of nonemergency U.S. government personnel and eligible family members from the U.S. Embassy in Niamey,” the Department said in a statement. “Commercial flight options are limited. We updated our travel advisory to reflect this and informed U.S. citizens that we are only able to provide emergency assistance to U.S. citizens in Niger given our reduced personnel.”

Earlier Wednesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the safety and security of embassy personnel and U.S. citizens overseas is the administration’s highest priority, and that the situation at present in Niger’s capital is fluid but calm.
“We constantly monitor events on the ground and make decisions based on what’s appropriate to safeguard our personnel,” he said.

The State Department said the embassy in Niamey remains open for limited emergency services to U.S. citizens and that it would continuously re-examine the situation as the security situation permits.

While it wasn’t immediately clear why the department changed course, a one-week deadline imposed on Sunday by the 15-nation Economic Community of West African States for the military junta to cede power is approaching with no apparent change in the situation in Niger. The bloc said it would consider a military intervention to oust the coup plotters and restore democratic rule in the vast Saharan country if that deadline wasn’t met.

On Tuesday, European governments began evacuating their citizens from Niger after last week’s coup in the West African country triggered a tense standoff between Moscow’s allies in the region and countries that have worked more closely with the U.S. and other Western powers.

The evacuations—led by France, Niger’s former colonial ruler—show that European governments expect their citizens to be at higher risk in the country, which has been central to U.S. efforts to combat Islamist militants in the Sahel, the semiarid strip south of the Sahara.  

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his support for Niger’s embattled President Mohamed Bazoum

The U.S. has spent more than $500 million since 2012 to build up and train Niger’s armed forces. The vast West African country hosts American drones and American commandos, who, in addition to training, advise Nigerien special forces during combat missions against the insurgents.

On Saturday, the EU’s foreign-policy chief, Josep Borrell, said the bloc had frozen budgetary support as well as military assistance to Niger in response to the rebellion and would continue to recognize Bazoum as the country’s only legitimate president. 

The EU also has a training mission in Niger. The freeze affects that mission as well as significant parts of the 503 million euros, equivalent to about $550 million, that the EU had planned to contribute to Niger’s budget and population-targeted projects in the country between 2021 and 2024. The EU will continue sending humanitarian aid to Niger.

The decision by the State Department comes days after it ordered the departure of nonemergency personnel from Haiti as the security situation there deteriorates.

Write to Vivian Salama at [email protected]