Irish aid agencies say staff are safe after military coup in Niger

Two Irish humanitarian aid agencies active in Niger have confirmed their staff are safe in the wake of last week’s military coup.

Concern Worldwide and Goal Global have been active in Niger with emergency response, food, and health security programs for about 20 years. Most of their staff is comprised of Nigeriens and some international aid workers.

Kevin Jenkinson, communications officer for Concern, said that “all staff are safe,” but that the organisation has paused their programmes temporarily while monitoring the situation.

Paul Westbury, Goal’s security advisor on Africa, also said that the organisation is “closely monitoring the unfolding crisis and the operational risk to its existing humanitarian aid programmes”.

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There are no Irish aid workers on Goal’s Niger team, made up of of 55 Nigeriens and three international staff. Mr Westbury said the staff working in the head office in the capital Naimey reported “relative calm interspersed by sporadic fighting,” and added that the organisation will remain vigilant as “international sources continue to advise a high risk of violence across the country.”

Both Concern and Goal said that their staff’s safety is currently their priority, but that they do not intend to cease their presence in the country.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has advised Irish people to leave Niger while they can. but no requests for consular assistance have so far been made.

Meanwhile, 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.

France, Italy and Spain all announced evacuations for their citizens and other Europeans in Niamey, following concerns that they could become trapped after soldiers detained president Mohamed Bazoum and seized power.

The Biden administration has yet to announce any decision on evacuation for American forces, diplomats, aid workers and other US citizens in Niger, an important counterterror base for the United States in the Sahel. Some Americans, however, have left with the help of the Europeans.

France’s first two flights evacuated more than 350 French nationals, as well as people from Niger and at least 10 other countries, the French foreign ministry said. The Paris airport authority said two more evacuation flights are scheduled to land on Wednesday afternoon.

An Italian military aircraft landed in Rome on Wednesday with 99 passengers, including 21 Americans and civilians from other countries, said the Italian defence ministry.

Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajani said, “In some way, we were authorised by the new government, which gave permission for the operation.”

Germany, which has encouraged its civilians in Niger to evacuate on French flights, said that it does not currently see any need to evacuate the approximately 100 troops it has in the country, largely connected to the UN mission in neighbouring Mali.

On Sunday, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), said it would use force against the junta if it did not release and reinstate the president within a week.

The announcement was immediately rejected by neighbouring Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, all of which are run by mutinous soldiers who toppled their governments.

Mali and Burkina Faso’s leaders said a military intervention in Niger “would be tantamount to a declaration of war” against them.

Niger was seen as one of the region’s last democracies and a partner Western countries could work with to beat back the jihadi violence that’s wracked the region.

The United States, France and other European countries have poured millions of dollars of military aid and assistance into the country.

At a virtual United Nations meeting, the UN special envoy for West Africa and the Sahel said that efforts other than the threat of force are under way to restore democracy in Niger.

Leonardo Santos Simao said: “One week can be more than enough if everybody talks in good faith, if everybody wants to avoid bloodshed.”

But, he added that “different member states are preparing themselves to use force if necessary”.

During the evacuation flights at the airport, a passenger who did not want to be named for security reasons said that the Nigerien military, which was escorting an Italian military convoy into the airport, sped off with soldiers who raised their middle fingers at the passengers.

That same night, the M62 Movement, an activist group that has organised pro-Russia and anti-French protests, called for residents in Niamey to mobilise and block the airport until foreign military forces leave the country.

Mahaman Sanoussi, the national co-ordinator for the group, said in a statement: “Any evacuation of Europeans [should be] conditional on the immediate departure of foreign military forces.” – Additional reporting AP