World Bank halts disbursements for Niger operations following coup, exodus of expats continue

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Passengers queue outside Diori Hamani international airport in Niamey, Niger, on August 2, 2023, as part of the third evacuation a week after a coup toppled one of the last pro-Western leaders in the jihadist-plagued Sahel. (French government handout via AFP)
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Updated 03 August 2023
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World Bank halts disbursements for Niger operations following coup, exodus of expats continue

  • France, Italy and Spain all have announced evacuations of their citizens and other Europeans in Niamey
  • ECOWAS on Sunday also had announced sanctions against the coup leaders that included halting energy transactions with Niger

NIAMEY, Niger/WASHINGTON: A week after Niger's military seized power from  democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the World Bank on Wednesday said it had  halted disbursements for all operations in the fragile West African nation until further notice.

Private sector partnerships “will continue with caution,” said the bank in a statement, adding that it will “closely monitor the situation.”

Niger has one of the largest World Bank portfolios in Africa, amounting to $4.5 billion covering the country’s priority sectors, and it has also received $600 million in direct budget support from the bank between 2022 and 2023.

“The World Bank believes that peace, stability, and rule of law are fundamental for creating a world free of poverty on a livable planet. We are alarmed by efforts to overthrow the democratically elected government in Niger,” it said in a statement.
“As a result, the World Bank has paused disbursements for all operations until further notice other than private sector partnerships which will continue with caution.”
The World Bank said it would continue monitoring the situation.
“We are driven by the ambition to improve the quality of life and opportunities for the people of Niger,” it added.
Niger’s regional and international partners are scrambling to respond to a military coup that political analysts say could have grave consequences for democratic progress and the fight against an insurgency by jihadist militants in West Africa.
The Bank’s private sector arm, IFC, has mobilized close to $50 million of investments in Niger in the last three years with projects worth $75 million under consideration for this year.
The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency, the World Bank’s political risk arm, has supported one project in Niger’s financial technology sector valued at $2.25 million, and has been developing a pipeline of projects in the renewable energy and telecom sectors.

Evacuation continues

Amid uncertainties,  foreign nationals continued to depart Niger’s capital Niamey.  on the last of four French military evacuation flights late Wednesday after waiting at the airport for hours, while defense officials of a regional bloc gathered to discuss how to respond to the military coup.

France, Italy and Spain all have announced evacuations of their citizens and other Europeans in the capital, Niamey, following concerns they could become trapped after soldiers detained Bazoum and seized power.
The West African regional bloc ECOWAS has threatened to use force to restore Bazoum to power, but at least three of the group’s 15 member countries have sided with the coup leaders and two of them have warned that they would consider any intervention in Niger an act of war against them.
A two-day meeting of defense chiefs of the bloc opened Wednesday in Nigeria’s capital to confer on next steps. Abdel-Fatau Musah, the ECOWAS commissioner for political affairs, peace and stability, said the meeting in Abuja would deal with how to “negotiate with the officers in the hostage situation that we find ourselves in the Republic of Niger.”
ECOWAS on Sunday also had announced sanctions against the coup leaders that included halting energy transactions with Niger, which gets up to 90 percent of its power from neighboring Nigeria, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency.
Power transmission from Nigeria to Niger was cut off as of Tuesday, an official at one of Nigeria’s main electricity companies said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the issue. The official did not clarify how much of Niger’s power the cut represented, but any cut would further squeeze citizens in the impoverished country of more than 25 million people.
The US government has yet to announce any decision on evacuation for American forces, diplomats, aid workers and other US citizens in Niger, an important counter-terror base for the United States in the Sahel region. Some Americans, however, have left with the help of the Europeans.
France evacuated 736 people on three flights starting on Tuesday, including 498 French citizens as well as people from Niger and at least 10 other countries, the French Foreign Ministry said. The fourth and final planned flight took off late Wednesday, according to a passenger aboard the plane who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation
An Italian military aircraft landed in Rome on Wednesday with 99 passengers, including 21 Americans and civilians from other countries, the Italian defense ministry said. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the flights took place with the permission of the new government.
Germany, which has encouraged its civilians in Niger to evacuate on French flights, said that it does not currently see any need to evacuate the approximately 100 troops it has in the country, largely connected to the UN mission in neighboring Mali.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said he spoke Tuesday with the German commander at the air base in Niamey who told him the German forces are in close contact with the Nigerien military. “He told me clearly they are not at all worried about their safety at the moment,” Pistorius said.
US officials have stayed engaged in trying to roll back the armed takeover, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling Niger’s president late Tuesday to express “continued unwavering support.”
A US pullout from Niger would risk Washington’s longstanding counter-terror investments in the West African country, including a major air base in Agadez that is key to efforts against armed extremists across the Sahara and Sahel. The United States has roughly 1,000 forces in Niger, and helps train some Nigerien forces.
Leaving Niger would also risk yielding the country to the influence of Russia and its Wagner mercenary group, which already has a significant presence in Mali, the Central African Republic, and Sudan.
Before sunrise Wednesday, hundreds of people lined up outside the terminal at Niamey’s airport hoping to leave, after one of the French flights was canceled the night before. Some slept on the floor, while others watched television or talked on the phone.
A passenger who did not want to be named because of fears for personal safety, said they tried to shield their children from what was happening, telling them “just that they’re going home.” The passenger said they feared reprisal attacks against civilians if Niger’s regional neighbors follow through on threats to intervene militarily.
Niamey has calmed after protests supporting the junta turned violent Sunday, but some say the mood is still tense.
During Tuesday’s evacuation flights at the airport, a passenger who also did not want to be named over fears for personal safety said that Nigerien soldiers raised middle fingers at waiting evacuees as the soldiers sped off after escorting an Italian military convoy to the airport.
On Sunday, ECOWAS said it would use force against the junta if it didn’t release and reinstate the president within a week. The announcement was immediately rejected by neighboring Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea, all of which are run by mutinous soldiers who toppled their governments.
Mali and Burkina Faso’s leaders said a military intervention in Niger “would be tantamount to a declaration of war” against them.
At a virtual United Nations meeting on Tuesday night, the UN special envoy for West Africa and the Sahel said that non-military efforts are underway to restore democracy in Niger.
“One week can be more than enough if everybody talks in good faith, if everybody wants to avoid bloodshed,” said Leonardo Santos Simao. But, he added, “different member states are preparing themselves to use force if necessary.”
Others in the diplomatic community said the use of force is a real option.
ECOWAS is resolved to use military force after economic and travel sanctions have failed to roll back other coups, said a Western diplomat in Niamey, who did not want to be identified for security reasons.
The M62 Movement, an activist group that has organized pro-Russia and anti-French protests, called for residents in Niamey to mobilize and block the airport until foreign military forces leave the country.
“Any evacuation of Europeans (should be) conditional on the immediate departure of foreign military forces,” Mahaman Sanoussi, the national coordinator for the group, said in a statement.


29 pupils taking high school exams killed in C.Africa crush

Updated 4 sec ago
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29 pupils taking high school exams killed in C.Africa crush

In the ensuing panic, supervisors and students tried to flee, some jumping from the first floor of the school
“I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students,” Touadera said

BANGUI: Twenty-nine students taking their high school exams in the Central African Republic died in a stampede sparked by an exploding power transformer, the health ministry told AFP Thursday.

Just over 5,300 students were sitting the second day of the baccalaureate exams at the time of the explosion early Wednesday afternoon in Bangui, the capital of the deeply poor nation.

In the ensuing panic, supervisors and students tried to flee, some jumping from the first floor of the school.

The injured were transported by ambulance, on the back of pickup trucks or by motorbike taxi, AFP journalists saw.

“I would like to express my solidarity and compassion to the parents of the deceased candidates, to the educational staff, to the students,” President Faustin Archange Touadera said in a video published on his party’s Facebook page.

Touadera, who is attending a summit of the Gavi vaccine alliance in Brussels, also announced three days of national mourning.

According to a document circulating on social media and authenticated by the health ministry, 29 deaths were registered by hospitals in the city.

“The hospital was overwhelmed by people to the point of obstructing caregivers and ambulances, a health ministry source stated.

UN peacekeepers, police and other security were seen around the Barthelemy Boganda high school and hospitals.

Education Minister Aurelien-Simplice Kongbelet-Zingas said in a statement Wednesday that “measures will be taken quickly to shed light on the circumstances of this incident.”

The minister added that a further statement would follow regarding selection of a date for the students to resume their exams program.

The Republican Bloc for the Defense of the Constitution (BRDC), a coalition of opposition parties, condemned what it termed “the irresponsibility of the authorities in place, who have failed in their duty to ensure the safety of students and school infrastructure.”

The CAR is among the poorest countries in the world and, since independence from France in 1960, has endured a succession of coups, authoritarian rulers and civil wars.

The latest civil war started more than a decade ago. The government has secured the main cities and violence has subsided in recent years.

But fighting occasionally erupts in remote regions between rebels and the national army, which is backed by Wagner mercenaries and Rwandan troops.

Municipal, legislative, and presidential elections are scheduled for August and December of this year but UN experts are calling for urgent institutional reform of the electoral authority before the polls and for “transparent internal governance,” as tensions between the government and the opposition intensify.

Kremlin says no date yet for next round of Ukraine peace talks

Updated 6 min 9 sec ago
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Kremlin says no date yet for next round of Ukraine peace talks

  • Peskov said Russia was in favor of continued US efforts to mediate
  • They have made no progress toward a ceasefire

MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Thursday there was no progress yet toward setting a date for the next round of peace talks with Ukraine, Interfax news agency reported.

Another agency, TASS, quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying Russia was in favor of continued US efforts to mediate.

Resuming negotiations after a gap of more than three years, Russia and Ukraine held face-to-face talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 that led to a series of prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of dead soldiers.

But they have made no progress toward a ceasefire which Ukraine, with Western backing, has been pressing for.


16 dead, thousands of businesses destroyed after Kenya protests

Updated 27 min 45 sec ago
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16 dead, thousands of businesses destroyed after Kenya protests

  • The marches had been called to mark one year since anti-tax demonstrations
  • “What unfolded yesterday was not a protest. It was terrorism disguised as dissent,” Kipchumba Murkomen, interior cabinet secretary, said

NAIROBI: At least 16 people died in protests across Kenya on Wednesday, Amnesty International said Thursday, as businesses and residents were left to clean up the devastation in the capital and beyond.

The marches had been called to mark one year since anti-tax demonstrations that peaked when a huge crowd stormed parliament and dozens were killed by security forces.

The anniversary marches began peacefully Wednesday but descended into chaos as young men held running battles with police, lit fires, and ripped up pavements to use as projectiles.

“What unfolded yesterday was not a protest. It was terrorism disguised as dissent,” Kipchumba Murkomen, interior cabinet secretary, said in a televised speech.

“We condemn the criminal anarchists who in the name of peaceful demonstrations unleashed a wave of violence, looting, sexual assault and destruction upon our people,” he added.

In Nairobi’s business district, the epicenter of the unrest, AFP journalists found entire shopping centers and thousands of businesses destroyed, many still smoldering.

At least two banks had been broken into, while businesses ranging from supermarkets to small electronics and clothing stores were reduced to ashes or ransacked by looters.

“When we came we found the whole premise burnt down,” said Raphael Omondi, 36, owner of a print shop, adding that he had lost machines worth $150,000.

“There were guys stealing, and after stealing they set the whole premises on fire... If this is what protest is, it is not worth it.”

“They looted everything... I do not know where to start,” said Maureen Chepkemoi, 32, owner of a perfume store.

“To protest is not bad but why are you coming to protest inside my shop? It is wicked,” she added.

Several business owners told AFP that looting had started in the afternoon after the government ordered TV and radio stations to stop broadcasting live images of the protests.

Amnesty International’s Kenya director Irungu Houghton said the death toll had risen to 16.

Rights group Vocal Africa, which was documenting the deaths and helping affected families at a Nairobi morgue, said at least four bodies had been brought there so far.

“All of them had signs of gunshots, so we suspect they all died of gunshot wounds,” its head Hussein Khalid told AFP.

“We condemn this excessive use of force,” he said. “We believe that the police could have handled themselves with restraint.”

“You come out to protest police killings, and they kill even more.”

A coalition of rights groups had earlier said at least 400 people were wounded, with 83 in serious condition in hospital. It recorded protests in 23 counties around Kenya.

Emergency responders reported multiple gunshot wounds, and there were unconfirmed local media reports that police had opened fire on protesters, particularly in towns outside the capital.

There is deep resentment against President William Ruto, who came to power in 2022 promising rapid economic progress.

Many are disillusioned by continued economic stagnation, corruption and high taxes, as well as police brutality after a teacher was killed in custody earlier this month.


Vehicle hits pedestrians near school in Beijing: Chinese police

Updated 44 min ago
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Vehicle hits pedestrians near school in Beijing: Chinese police

  • A grey SUV wedged against a tree as several people and clothing were seen in the road
  • “On June 26, 2025, at around 13:00, a traffic accident occurred near the intersection of Yucai Road and Dongmen Street in Miyun district,” local police wrote

BEIJING: A vehicle crashed into pedestrians in an “accident” near a school in Beijing on Thursday, Chinese police said, with footage shared online appearing to show young people lying injured in the street.

Videos geolocated by AFP to an intersection in Miyun district in the northeast of the capital showed a grey SUV wedged against a tree as several people and clothing were seen in the road.

In one clip a bloodied young person was seen being given first aid by somebody in white overalls.

“On June 26, 2025, at around 13:00, a traffic accident occurred near the intersection of Yucai Road and Dongmen Street in Miyun district,” local police wrote in an online statement.

A 35-year-old man surnamed Han “collided” with people “due to an improper operation,” it said, adding those injured were taken to hospital.

It did not give the number of injured.

“The accident is under further investigation,” the statement said.

China has seen a string of mass casualty incidents — from stabbings to car attacks — challenging its reputation for good public security.

Last year a man who plowed his car into a crowd of mostly school children in central China was handed a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve.

In November 2024 the attacker named as Huang Wen repeatedly rammed his car into a crowd outside a primary school in Hunan province.

When the vehicle malfunctioned and stopped, Huang got out and attacked bystanders with a weapon before being apprehended.

Thirty people, including 18 pupils, sustained minor injuries.

Some analysts have linked the incidents to growing anger and desperation at the country’s slowing economy and a sense that society is becoming more stratified.

In November last year, a man killed 35 people and wounded more than 40 when he rammed his car into a crowd in the southern city of Zhuhai, the country’s deadliest attack in a decade.

And in the same month, eight people were killed and 17 wounded in a knife attack at a vocational school in the eastern Chinese city of Yixing.


Lavrov says NATO spending increase won’t significantly affect Russia’s security

Updated 26 June 2025
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Lavrov says NATO spending increase won’t significantly affect Russia’s security

  • NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5% of GDP over the next decade

MOSCOW: NATO’s decision to increase defense spending will not significantly affect Russia’s security, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.

NATO allies on Wednesday agreed to raise their collective spending goal to 5 percent of gross domestic product over the next decade, citing what they called the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need to strengthen civil and military resilience.

“As for the impact of this 5 percent goal on our security, I don’t think it will be significant,” Lavrov told a press conference.

“We know what goals we are pursuing, we don’t hide them, we openly announce them, they are absolutely legal from the point of view of any interpretation of the principles of the UN Charter and international law, and we know by what means we will always ensure these goals.”

NATO adopted the higher spending target in response to pressure from US President Donald Trump for European members to pull their weight, and also to European fears that Russia poses a growing threat to their security following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia, which is spending more than 40 percent of this year’s budget on defense and security, denies any intention to attack a NATO state.

The Kremlin accused the alliance this week of portraying Russia as a “fiend of hell” in order to justify its “rampant militarization.”