NIAMEY — Niger’s military government accused France of orchestrating a failed mutiny that rocked the capital last week, a charge Paris dismissed as “pure fantasy,” Al Jazeera reported.
Renegade soldiers targeted Base 101 inside Niamey’s airport complex shortly after midnight on August 29, with fighting spreading toward the presidential palace and briefly knocking the state broadcaster off air before the army, aided by Russian Africa Corps fighters, contained the revolt. State media said hundreds of soldiers took part, with dozens killed or arrested. Government spokesperson Soumana Boubacar said Friday the plot was “instigated and sustained by a vast network of collusion headed by the French regime” of President Emmanuel Macron. Niger also blamed ECOWAS and some regional states; Benin rejected the accusation. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RFI France had neither intention nor means to stage such an operation.
Since the 2023 coup, ACLED counts nearly 6,000 people killed in more than 1,400 violent incidents — a sharp rise from the prior three years — as Niamey fights Islamist armed groups.
Sources: Al Jazeera.
