France to evacuate nationals from Niger ‘very soon’: embassy

France will “very soon” start to evacuate its nationals from Niger, where a coup last week has unleashed anti-French protests, Paris’s embassy in Niamey said Tuesday.

“In the face of a deteriorating security situation in Niamey, and taking advantage of the relative calm in Niamey, an operation of evacuation by air from Niamey is being prepared,” said a message sent out by the embassy to French citizens, adding that the evacuations “will take place very soon in a very limited span of time”.

In Paris, the foreign ministry confirmed that “an evacuation is being organised and will take place very quickly”.

Niger became the third Sahel country in less than three years, following neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, to be shaken by a military coup, when President Mohamed Bazoum was toppled last week by elite troops from his own Presidential Guard.

In all three nations, jihadist insurgencies have strained fragile governments, stoked anger in the military and rained economic blows on some of the world’s poorest countries.The overthrow of elected presidents in the former French colonies has been accompanied by anti-French, pro-Russian demonstrations.