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Friday, February 2nd, 2024

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – French nationals will no longer be allowed to fly into Niger, airline sources said Thursday.

“According to the Nigerien authorities, any passenger of French nationality is no longer authorised to enter Nigerien territory,” said an internal Air Burkina note seen by AFP.

“As a consequence they will not be accepted aboard our flights” to the capital Niamey, it added.

Royal Air Maroc has also decided to follow the new rule, except for “special authorisations”, said a source close to the company.

Numerous other airlines who fly to Niamey including Ethiopian Airlines, Air Tunisie and Turkish Airlines did not respond immediately when contacted by AFP.

Nigerien authorities would not confirm to AFP that the French had been declared persona non grata in the Sahel nation.

Several French nationals have already been refused entry upon arrival at Niamey airport recently.

Relations between Paris and Niamey have gone from bad to worse since a military coup last July ousted elected president Mohamed Bazoum.

France shut its embassy in Niamey in December.

Niger’s military leaders, wrestling with high food prices and a scarcity of medicines under regional sanctions, have said they want up to three years before a return to civilian rule.

Niger has joined the military regimes in Burkina Faso and Mali in announcing their withdrawal from the West African bloc ECOWAS.

AFP

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