Niger reopens borders with several neighbours a week after coup
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[August 02, 2023]
NIAMEY (Reuters) -Niger announced overnight that it was
reopening its borders with several of its neighbours, a week after a
coup that has been condemned by foreign powers and raised fears of a
wider conflict in West Africa's Sahel region.
Defence chiefs from regional bloc ECOWAS will start a two-day meeting in
the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on Wednesday to discuss the situation in
Niger, where ECOWAS has threatened to use force if soldiers do not
reinstate the elected president.
A delegation from the regional bloc was also expected to arrive in
Niger's capital Niamey on Wednesday to start talks with the junta, led
by General Abdourahmane Tiani.
"The land and air borders with Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya and
Chad are re-opened from August 1, 2023," a junta spokesperson said on
state television.
The junta closed the borders last Wednesday, at the same time that it
announced that it had removed democratically elected President Mohamed
Bazoum from power.
The borders that have reopened are mainly in remote desert areas.
Niger's key entryways for trade and commerce remain closed due to
sanctions imposed by the regional bloc.
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Niger's coup was the seventh military takeover in less than three years
in West and Central Africa, where some of the coup-hit countries have
banded together in opposition to the rest of the 15-nation regional
bloc.
European countries started evacuating their citizens this week after
Mali and Burkina Faso, also ruled by military juntas, said they would
consider any regional intervention in Niger to be a declaration of war
and would come to its defence.
EUROPEANS EVACUATED
The first military planes carrying mostly European nationals landed in
Paris and Rome on Wednesday.
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![](../images/080223PIX/news_v36.jpg)
Nigerien security forces prepare to
disperse pro-junta demonstrators gathered outside the French
embassy, in Niamey, the capital city of Niger July 30, 2023.
REUTERS/Souleymane Ag Anara
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/02/images/ads/current/chicagostreet_quarter_FAIR_2023.png)
"Things could have turned ugly but it still is nice to be back
here," a French evacuee who gave his name as Charles told Reuters
TV.
"We will see how things evolve over there in the coming days and
weeks. For us, who care about it quite a lot, we will follow this
closely," he said.
France, the United States, Germany, and Italy have troops in Niger
on counterinsurgency and training missions, helping the army to
fight groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State.
There has been no announcement of troops being withdrawn so far.
Germany's defence minister said on Wednesday that there were no
concerns about the safety of German soldiers.
Any Western military intervention to restore democracy must be ruled
out, as it would be "perceived as a new colonisation", said Italian
foreign minister Antonio Tajani.
Niger is the world's seventh-biggest producer of uranium, the
radioactive metal widely used for nuclear energy and treating
cancer.
The EU Commission said earlier this week that it had sufficient
inventories of natural uranium to mitigate any short-term supply
risks.
(Reporting by Christophe Van Der Perre; Writing by Ingrid Melander
and Nellie Peyton; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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