Following a military coup in the African nation of Niger, Italy’s foreign minister announced on Tuesday that the government will organise a special flight to bring home its citizens from Niamey, the capital.
“The Italian government has decided to offer our fellow citizens in Niamey the chance to leave the city on a special flight to Italy,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani posted on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Tajani said the Italian embassy remained open and the ambassador was returning to Niger from Rome where she went for the UN Food Systems summit last week.
“Italy wants to pursue political and diplomatic mediation efforts,” Tajani said.
Italy said that their offer of a flight did not constitute the start of a real evacuation, whereas France, a former colonial power in Niger, announced that it would begin repatriating its residents and other willing European individuals.
However, there has been no mention of their evacuation as of yet. France, Italy, the United States, and Germany all deploy soldiers in Niger on counter-insurgency and military training missions.
