Diplomats in touch with Kiwis after coup in Niger, evacuation flights operating

Mohamed Toumba, one of the soldiers who ousted Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, addresses supporters of Niger's ruling junta in Niamey, Niger on Sunday. Nigerians are bracing for a possible military intervention. Photo / AP

Diplomats have been talking about how to get Kiwis out of Niger, where a coup and reaction to the coup has raised concerns about regional instability.

An Auckland businessman originally from neighbouring Mali says a major humanitarian crisis is looming and the New Zealand Government should discourage any further armed conflict or foreign intervention.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) said two New Zealanders were registered on SafeTravel as being in Niger and consular officials were in touch with them.

“Consular officials are also in contact with international partners who have been operating limited evacuation flights from Niger and have offered to assist New Zealanders wishing to depart,” a ministry spokeswoman said.

“It is possible that international commercial flights may also resume in the coming days.”

Boubacar Coulibaly, of the Africa-New Zealand Business Chamber, said West Africa offered big opportunities for Kiwi companies, especially in agribusiness, but France’s policies in its former colonies had caused many social and economic problems.

On Sunday, a deadline arrived for Niger’s military junta to reinstate the country’s ousted president Mohamed Bazoum. West African regional bloc Ecowas has threatened a military intervention against coup leader General Abdourahmane Tchiani.

“We are all very, very worried,” Coulibaly said on Monday. “It’s going to affect the entire region.”

He said some Western news outlets portrayed the coup as the usurpation of a democratic and stable regime, but the situation in Niger had been dreadful for a long time.

Now, he said, any intervention by Ecowas or Western powers would further destabilise the region and cause humanitarian disaster.

“The main reason why the coup d’etat happened is because the president of Niger was releasing terrorists.”

He said France wanted to keep dominating its former colony, which was a major uranium exporter and important to the French nuclear power sector.

Coulibaly said an escalation in conflict would destabilise his homeland, Mali, and also nearby Nigeria, home to an estimated 220 million people.

“The humanitarian disaster is going to be unbelievable.”

Supporters of Niger's ruling junta cheer in Niamey on Sunday. Nigeriens are bracing for a possible military intervention as time runs out for its new junta leaders to reinstate the country's ousted president. Photo / AP

Coulibaly said if left alone, Niger coup leaders might revise the constitution to give local people more of a say in how natural resources were managed and how the proceeds of mining were distributed.

He said Niger was desperately poor despite having vast mineral resources, and its people wanted to shake off controlling and exploitative foreign vested interests.

The French government was more unpopular than ever in West Africa, but that sentiment did not extend to French people, Coulibaly said.

He said the western Sahel, a region including Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, had abundant resources of gold, lithium and pure hydrogen.

New Zealand currently imported phosphate from the western Sahara, which was controversial due to the political situation in that Moroccan-controlled territory.

Coulibaly said the western Sahel could provide an alternative source of that fertiliser.

He said reports of Kremlin-linked Wagner Group mercenaries in the region had been overstated and the region’s political conflicts had little or nothing to do with Russia.

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the coup.

The Economist said the EU, and France especially, had previously invested heavily in Niger, with Paris sending resources and troops to the country and the EU committing NZ$72 million to help train and equip Niger’s military.

The Telegraph said French intelligence rebuffed Macron over claims it failed to predict the Niger coup, saying Macron’s office was urged to send troops to protect President Bazoum in the capital of Niamey but declined for fear of seeming “colonialist”.

The AP said in Niamey, coup leaders appeared at a stadium rally where a chicken decorated in the colours of former coloniser France was beheaded, to cheers.

Supporters of Niger's ruling junta hold a Russian flag in Niamey on Sunday. Photo / AP

The AP said Nigeria’s senate pushed back against an Ecowas plan and urged Nigeria’s president, the bloc’s current chairman, to explore options other than the use of force.

The AP report described the coup as adding more complexity to a region “struggling with military takeovers, spreading Islamic extremism and a shift by some states toward Russia and its proxy, the Wagner mercenary group”.

The report said Mali and Burkina Faso — both run by juntas — said an intervention would be a “declaration of war” against them, too.

There was one New Zealander registered as being in Mali and none registered in Burkina Faso.

Mfat said it advised all New Zealanders overseas to register on SafeTravel and contact a 24/7 consular emergency line if needed at: +64 99 20 20 20.

The US Department of State last week ordered the departure of non-emergency US government personnel from the US embassy in Niamey.

Additional reporting by AP.

John Weekes is online business editor. He has covered courts, politics, crime and consumer affairs. He rejoined the Herald in 2020, previously working at Stuff and News Regional, Australia.