France readies to evacuate citizens from Niger

NIAMEY - France prepared to evacuate its citizens from Niger on Tuesday as tensions escalated after the coup last week that toppled one of the last pro-Western leaders in Africa's jihadist-plagued Sahel region.

Niger President Mohamed Bazoum was detained by his own presidential guard in a third coup in as many years in the Sahel, following putsches in neighbouring fellow former French colonies Mali and Burkina Faso.

West African leaders, supported by their Western partners, threatened to use force to reinstate the democratically elected Bazoum and slapped financial sanctions on the putschists.

READ: Battle lines drawn in Niger

Amid the anti-French protest unleashed by the coup, Paris on Tuesday said it was moving to withdraw its nationals from the capita.

"In the face of a deteriorating security situation in Niamey... an operation of evacuation by air... is being prepared," said a message sent out by the embassy to French citizens, adding that the evacuations "will take place very soon in a very limited span of time".

Junta-led Mali and Burkina Faso on Monday warned that any military intervention in Niger to restore Bazoum would be considered a "declaration of war against their two countries.

They said the "disastrous consequences of a military intervention in Niger... could destabilise the entire region".