On 23 April, an Air France sweeper flight took an unusual route through Lome (Togo), Niamey (Niger) and Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) to repatriate more than 200 citizens; greatly alleviating the situation in Togo and Burkina, and taking home all remaining stranded EU citizens from Niger (93 in total, 40 of them French). The three EU Delegations worked in close cooperation with each other and with France, who lead the operation, and overcame numerous logistical and legal obstacles on the way, showing once again the added value of close EU coordination and the EU diplomatic network.