Niger’s military junta that staged a coup has reopened some of the country’s borders, prompting an exodus of nationals from some European countries.

Niger’s military reopened the country’s land and air borders with five bordering countries, excluding Nigeria, the night before, according to Reuters and others.

“The land and air borders of Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mali, Libya and Chad will be reopened as of August 1,” Air Force Colonel Ahmadou Abdraman, a spokesman for the Nigerian military, said on state television.

Niger’s military had previously closed the country’s airspace and borders after detaining President Mohamed Bazoum and staging a coup last month.

Against this backdrop, two French-flagged flights that took off from Niger’s Niamey International Airport with 262 people on board arrived at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport in the early hours of the second day.

The passengers were mostly French, with some Nigerian, Portuguese, Belgian, Ethiopian, Lebanese, and Indian nationals on board.

An Italian military plane also departed Niger carrying 99 people, including 21 civilians from other countries, including the United States, and landed in Rome at dawn on the 2nd.

Around Niamey International Airport, hundreds of people, including French people, were waiting to be evacuated by air, the Associated Press reported.

France, Italy, Spain and others have announced plans to evacuate their citizens, while Germany has advised its nationals in Niger to return home on French flights.

France, Italy and Germany, along with the United States, have troops in Niger, the world’s seventh-largest uranium producer, 카지노사이트넷 for military exercises and to combat Islamist militants, but there have been no announcements that troops from those countries are pulling out of Niger.