The Government sends a military plane to Niger to evacuate the rest of Spaniards

MADRID, 4 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Government has sent a military plane to Niger that has landed this Friday in the capital, Niamey, to evacuate the Spaniards who still remain in the African country after the coup.

Sources from the Ministry of Defense have indicated that it is an Air and Space Army A330 plane, which has flown in recent hours to the Niamey International Airport.

The plane, which has just landed in the Niger capital, has the mission of bringing the Spaniards who are still in the country and want to leave, sources from the department headed by Margarita Robles have indicated. At the beginning of the week, the Government reported that it had begun to work on the evacuation by air of the more than 70 Spaniards located in Niger.

It should be remembered that yesterday the first evacuation flight was carried out, in which more than twenty Spaniards traveled, who were transferred to Paris and given a plane ticket to complete the trip to Spain.

This was announced by the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who pointed out that the first flight was made in collaboration with France and that work continued on the ground to get the rest of the compatriots out, thanking the French Government for its cooperation.

Foreign sources explained that those who arrived in Paris are more than twenty of those who have asked to leave, since not all Spaniards want to return at the moment, they specified.

The Government has recalled this week that the Spanish Embassy in Niger has these days available to Spaniards in the country an email and an emergency telephone number to coordinate the evacuation operation.

Last week, a group of soldiers ousted the Nigerian president, Mohamed Bazoum. Niger has experienced four other -- now five -- coups since it gained independence from France in 1960, as well as several failed attempts, the last of which was in 2021, days before Bazoum took office.