Following last week’s coup, the US has ordered the partial evacuation of its embassy in Niger.
Hundreds of foreign nationals have already been evacuated, and the French embassy was attacked by demonstrators on Sunday.
Gen Abdourahamane Tchiani, the coup leader, has warned against “any interference in the internal affairs” of the country.
Protests in favour of the coup are scheduled for Thursday, Niger’s Independence Day.
This is despite an official prohibition on protests.
France, Niger’s former colonial power, has requested that the military junta that has assumed control of the country ensure the security of their embassy.
On Sunday, a crowd attacked the French diplomatic mission, leading the country to organize evacuation aircraft.
According to France’s Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, more than 1,000 French people and other Europeans had been airlifted out.
One Niamey resident told the BBC’s Outside Source programme that things had been quiet thus far.
“People are doing their duty like they do it every day,” said Sidien.
He also stated that there was a military presence around various embassies, ministry buildings, and the president’s palace.
Sadissou, who is in Maradi, Niger’s second city, said the situation was similar but that the calm was misleading.
“The situation has changed and so people are very anxious. They’re anxious about the future, about what’s going to happen.”
Niger is a major uranium producer and is located on a major migration route to North Africa and the Mediterranean.
According to the state department, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with ousted President Mohamed Bazoum on Wednesday, and stated that the US is dedicated to the restoration of Niger’s democratically elected government.
Despite the partial evacuation, the country’s embassy in Niamey would remain open, according to spokesperson Matthew Miller.
“We remain committed to the people of Niger and our relationship with the people of Niger and we remain diplomatically engaged at the highest levels,” he said.
The United States is a significant contributor of humanitarian and security help to Niger, and has previously warned that the coup might lead to a halt in all cooperation.
The British embassy in Niamey, Niger’s capital, has also declared that it will decrease employees due to the security situation.
France and the European Union have already discontinued financial and development assistance.
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), a trading group of 15 West African countries, has implemented penalties against Niger, including a halt to all commercial transactions with the country and a freeze on the country’s assets in the regional central bank.
Niger’s electricity company also claims that neighboring Nigeria has stopped electricity supply, resulting in extensive power outages, however, Nigeria has not acknowledged this.
Gen Tchiani said in a televised address on Wednesday that the new leadership rejects “these sanctions as a whole and refuses to give in to any threat, wherever it comes from.”
He described the sanctions as “cynical and iniquitous,” claiming they were designed to “humiliate” Niger’s security forces and render the country “ungoverned.”
Ecowas military chiefs gathered in Nigeria on Wednesday to discuss a possible military intervention, though they stressed that such action would be a “last resort.”
Gen Tchiani, a former chief of Mr Bazoum’s presidential guard, seized power on July 26 and declared that he wished to prevent Niger’s “gradual and inevitable demise.”
The coup has sparked widespread protests against France, which remains a key partner, and in favor of Russia, whose influence in West and Central Africa has expanded in recent years.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the French embassy in Niamey on Sunday, some yelling “Long live Russia”, “Long live Putin”, and “Down with France”.
They also set fire to the embassy compound’s walls.
On Wednesday, 262 passengers arrived in Paris on French government-organized evacuation aircraft. A flight organized by Italy also landed in Rome, carrying 87 passengers.
In his speech, Gen Tchiani stated that the French people in Niger had never faced “the least threat.”
Niger, where both France and the United States have military facilities, has been an important Western ally in the fight against Islamic extremism in the Sahel.
After military commanders in neighboring Mali decided to collaborate with the Russian Wagner mercenary force in 2021, France shifted the focus of its regional counter-terrorism operations to Niger.