Niger has announced new restrictions on where citizens of five European countries can obtain visas to enter the country, in what authorities describe as a reciprocal measure against the ?difficulties? faced by Nigeriens seeking European visas.

According to an internal note, Foreign Minister Bakary Sangar? stated that, as of now, entry visas to Niger for nationals of Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and the United Kingdom will no longer be issued at Nigerien embassies in their respective countries.

Instead, applicants will have to travel to Niger?s embassies in Geneva, Ankara, or Moscow to complete the formalities. Holders of diplomatic or service passports will be able to obtain their visas in Brussels.

The minister argued that the decision was taken under the ?principle of reciprocity,? citing that Nigerien citizens are often forced to travel to neighbouring countries to apply for visas at European consulates.

Until recently, Nigeriens seeking access to the Schengen free movement area could apply through the French consulate in Niamey. However, relations with France, Niger?s former colonial power, have deteriorated since the 2023 coup, culminating in the expulsion of the French ambassador.

Since then, the Nigerian government has embraced nationalist politics and shifted its alliances away from the West, pursuing closer ties with Russia, Turkey, Iran, and China.

The new visa restrictions mean that just as Nigerien citizens must leave their country to complete visa applications, so too will citizens of the five targeted European states be required to travel abroad, whether to Switzerland, Turkey, or Russia, to obtain visas for Niger.

In a related development, the Confederation of Sahel States (CSS), of which Niger is a member, has expressed displeasure and condemnation of the sanctions and other acts of harassment of Pan-Africanists as acts of repression targeting prominent voices of African sovereignty.

In a meeting held in Bamako, the Ministers of Justice and Human Rights of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger expressed ?strong indignation? and condemned what they described as illegal, inhuman, and politically motivated actions against well-known pan-Africanist figures.(West Africa weekly)

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