Niger is still immersed in chaos. Since the coup carried out on July 26, in which a group of soldiers burst onto television to announce the removal of President Mohamed Bazoum, the suspension of institutions and the closure of borders, the country has returned to political instability. , a habitual characteristic of a territory that became independent 63 years ago from France and that has experienced 4 coups d'état in this time, and as many other attempts.
For the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the situation now involves repatriating the 70 people who are there, according to the figures handled by this body, which does not rule out that there may be more. They hope to send a plane from the Air Force to Niamey, the country's capital, which is waiting for permission from the new government to land in Niger.
For this reason, with the help of the Spanish embassy, about twenty Spaniards had to fly to Paris this Wednesday in a chartered plane as part of the French evacuation operations. There the Spanish authorities offered them accommodation in a hotel and they have finally been able to return to Spain this Thursday spread over several commercial flights.
Jaime Gutiérrez, a fictitious name to preserve anonymity, is one of these Spaniards repatriated thanks to the French authorities. In statements to 20minutos.es, he explains that the embassy has been promising them that a plane will go with between 6 and 10 armed geos of which, for the moment, they know nothing.. “They tell us, 'there is going to be a flight, there is going to be a Spanish flight' but it does not arrive. They are not clear at all,” he says, although he thanks the authorities for their work when traveling home.
His way of returning has been the same as the rest. “We received an e-mail that told us that we had to be waiting at the embassy at seven in the morning.. Eight people were there, later four other girls from an NGO joined and then another Franco-Swiss girl,” says Gutiérrez.
“From there we left in a minibus protected by Spanish security to the Nimey airport. We were waiting from 1:00 p.m., when we passed the controls, until 5:00 p.m., when they let us get on the plane, and then again waiting until 7:00 p.m. when it took off. We arrived very late in Paris, there they received us and found us accommodation and commercial flights for this Thursday”.
Leaving Niger without a return trip
For Gutiérrez, leaving Niger is a concern, because of his work and because he believes that he still does not know if he will be able to return, since the airspace will continue to be closed, although he is still in contact with several Nigerian people who are still there: “The people with whom work talks to me about street safety, but it's somewhat fictitious. If you are black or Arab you have no problem, if you are white yes. One of the girls from the NGO told me that she was always dressed like a normal European; the day of the coup he began to wear a burqa”.
And the problem, for this employee of a company in Niger, is that the country faces a great shortage of food where “discouragement” reigns.. “They eat a lot of rice, even a kilo for the whole family and in a week its price has doubled. The fear that everyone has is that they are talking about opening borders and the problem is that the borders they are opening are with countries that are useless, because the product comes from other countries,” Gutiérrez narrates.
“People think it's a socialist revolution, none of that. The coup d'état has been propitiated because the president who has been removed was going to approve a decree to leave a large part of the high positions of the military. And before seeing themselves in that matter, they have entered the palace and have removed power,” he explains.
However, Guitérrez is aware that many people support this assault on power: “People on the street support the coup plotters a lot, but we must take into account that Niamey is like a bastion of the opposition, and it is in the rest of the regions of the country where the president has been voted in”. In addition, it details that there are many people who take to the streets to support them “coerced” simply so that they are not pointed out.
“One of the girls from the NGO told me that she was always dressed like a normal European; on the day of the coup she started wearing a burqa.”
Political corruption, normal in Niger
To understand everything that is happening, this employee explains that it is necessary to be clear that Niger is a very poor country and in which political corruption reigns: “It goes from the president himself to the janitor”. In addition, he points out that Niger is a country whose population is not used to seeing a minister in a 200,000-euro car, although he clarifies that Nigeriens are very wrong if they “believe that this will solve their problems.”
“The normal thing would be for this same government to hold elections, but if they call elections the same party that won in the previous ones would come out again, they will not do it,” says Gutiérrez, who affirms that from the previous Executive “there are several ministers detained.”. “They are trying to organize the government in such a way that they are going to put in new ministers and those who were there now are being replaced by officials who worked there,” he says.
“I have been to other countries, Morocco, Algeria…. but this is different. If people believe that the Wagner group [the Russian paralimit group that also exerts its influence in this country] is the solution, they take it quite raw.. I hope for the good of the country that they reach an agreement because otherwise the ones who will suffer first are the Nigeriens,” says Gutiérrez.
great uncertainty
Another of the first repatriates was Pablo Aguirrezábal, a worker at the European Union Delegation in the country, who assured this Thursday in statements to RTVE that his return coincided with the end of his mission in Niger and that his office had decided for security repatriate non-essential personnel.
“I was involved in the European Union Consular effort so I was pretty up to speed on the whole procedure.. With the office cars they took us to the airport, they put us on the third French plane and we arrived in Paris this morning where the Spanish embassy here has put us up and put us on planes to return to Spain today”, declared on the channel 24 hours.
On his return, Aguirrezábal pointed out that it was a quiet transfer without any difficulty. “There was some threat of demonstrations, but I have acquaintances who have come even from the other corner of the country by road and they did not have any problem. Those of us who were in Niamey did not have any problem getting closer to the airport. The situation in the streets was very calm, we have not had any fear either,” he said.
The problem, for him, is that with the coup he does not know what will happen and it is precisely this uncertainty that worries Nigeriens: “There are some who have a long memory of previous coups and there is a lot of concern about what what is going to happen. There are also Nigerians who quite agree with the coup, there is everything.”
His return, like that of many others, will depend precisely on what happens from now on in Niger and will take place “depending on how things go”, although he does not lose hope: “If things calm down I hope to return and do one last visit, greet everyone and collect my things,” he said in his interview.
