Expulsion of 15 European soldiers deployed in the country, French nationals returned upon their arrival at the airport in Niamey… The soldiers in power, who announced this Sunday, January 28, together with Mali and Burkina Faso, the To leave ECOWAS, retaliatory measures against members of the European community increased last weekend and two separate trials were carried out by authorities.
Published on: 01/29/2024 – 10:29 p.m
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The first measure targets EUCAP Sahel – a 120-person European mission – created in 2012 to strengthen internal security and with a budget of $72 million for the period 2022-2024. The ruling military called for an end to this process last December. The return of 15 soldiers from this mission to Niamey on January 24 clearly outraged the junta.
On January 26, Nigeria's Interior Minister, General Toumba, ordered their expulsion. They left Niger on Sunday evening. The head of EUCAP, the German Katja Dominik, was turned away upon her arrival at Niamey airport on the night from Saturday to Sunday.
The second measure concerns French nationals, according to our information at least five, who have also been expelled from the territory since last Thursday. On Saturday morning, it was in particular the person in charge of the World Food Program (WFP) in Niger who, despite his UN diplomatic passport, had to stay on the bridge before he left for Paris via Ankara in Turkey on the same plane.
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