Retreats from crumbling empires are inevitably characterised by hastily arranged evacuations. Panicked civilians make their way to rickety airport terminals in the hope of an emergency flight out of the chaos. This was the postcolonial scene in Niamey, the capital of Niger, last week, as hundreds of French nationals joined other EU citizens in scurrying away from the west African nation.
Sections of the military had staged a coup against Mohamed Bazoum,
