PARIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - France plans to evacuate hundreds of French and European citizens from Niger over the next 24 hours, its foreign minister said on Tuesday, days after a junta seized power in the west African country.
She estimated that hundreds of French citizens and hundreds of citizens from other EU countries wanted to be evacuated.
The United States, Germany, and Italy have troops in Niger on counter-insurgency and training missions.
Colonna said France had talked with authorities in Niger to make sure the evacuation could proceed safely.
A spokesperson for the EU Commission said EU utilities had sufficient inventories of natural uranium to mitigate any short-term supply risks.
Persons:
Mohamed Bazoum, Catherine Colonna, France's, Colonna, France, DESTABILISATION, France's BFM, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Russia's Wagner, Orano, Bazoum, Michel Rose, Sudip Kar, Layli, Blandine Henault, Charlotte van Campenhout, Ingrid Melander, Nellie Peyton, Christina Fincher, Alex Richardson, Alexandra Hudson
Organizations:
Islamic, Kremlin, EU Commission, Nigerien, Regional, ECOWAS, Alexandra Hudson Our, Thomson
Locations:
France, Niger, West, Central Africa, Russia, Islamic State, al Qaeda, Sahel, Niger's, Niamey, Italy, United States, Germany, Russian, Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea