
The first plane carrying mostly French and European people evacuated from Niger landed in Paris early Wednesday, a week after a coup toppled President Mohamed Bazoum. It is the first time that France has staged a large-scale evacuation in its former colonies in the Sahel.
It comes a week after Niger's President Mohamed Bazoum was detained by his own presidential guard in what is the third coup in as many years in the Sahel, following putsches in neighbouring fellow former French colonies Mali (2021) and Burkina Faso (2022).