Foreign nationals evacuated from Niger as tensions rise after coup
Foreign nationals lined up outside an airport in Niger's capital on Wednesday morning to wait for a French military evacuation flight, while a regional bloc continued talks about its response to the military coup that took place last week.
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00:00 A plane carrying around 100 people fleeing Niger arrived in Rome on Wednesday aboard
00:06 a special flight organised by the Italian government. Among them Nigerians, Italians
00:12 and other nationalities fleeing the coup that overthrew the democratically elected president
00:17 last week.
00:19 Passengers on an evacuation flight from Niger have also landed in Paris. France has chartered
00:24 planes to rescue some 600 people wishing to be repatriated and other foreign nationals.
00:31 Meanwhile West African heads of state continue to apply pressure on Niger's military junta.
00:38 ECOWAS leaders have not ruled out the use of force against the coup leaders if they
00:42 don't restore power to the civil authorities.
00:45 Niger's coup leaders have the support of Mali and Burkina Faso. The neighbouring countries,
00:51 which are also governed by the military, warn that any armed intervention in Niger would
00:55 be considered a declaration of war against them.
00:59 The Nigerian junta, which accuses France of wanting to intervene militarily, has sent
01:03 an emissary to Mali, also a former French colony, to analyse the situation.
01:14 [SWOOSH]