The Nigerian military junta that perpetrated this Wednesday the coup d’état against President Mohamed Bazoum, a strategic ally of France, was in favor of cooperating with its neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, already governed by coup juntas and which have been strengthening their ties with Russia. .
The deposed government of Niger, one of the poorest countries in Africa, was France’s main partner in the volatile Sahel region and kept a prudent distance from Mali and Burkina Faso, openly anti-French since the coups they suffered in 2021 and 2022. The French country has 1,500 military personnel and important economic interests in uranium extraction deployed in Nigerian territory, a situation that could change from now on.
This Thursday, the coup junta -organized in the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland (CLSP)- accused France in a statement of the landing of a military plane at the Niamey international airport, despite the border closure decreed last night earlier by the military. The Junta issued another statement the following day, with a harsher tone, in which it warned against “any foreign military intervention” in collaboration with “some former dignitaries taking refuge in chancelleries”, without giving further details.
Social networks pointed to the presence of French soldiers in the Nigerien capital Niamey. The Niger coup comes amid growing sentiment against France – a former colonizing power – in the Sahel, staged in Mali and Burkina Faso, whose coup governments have expelled the French forces of the Barkhane anti-terrorist mission in recent months. The French military then took refuge in Niger and Chad to continue fighting terrorism from there, but their future in Nigerien territory is now uncertain.
Although Niger did not participate in the Russia-Africa summit held this week in Saint Petersburg, the Russian press reported that the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had met there with Nigerien representatives. Also with representatives of Mali, where Wagner has been active for months, and from the Central African Republic, where Russian mercenaries will be in charge of security during Sunday’s constitutional referendum.
Simultaneously, on Telegram channels close to Wagner, an audio of an alleged statement by Prigozhin in which he supported the coup in Niger was broadcast. “What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the Nigerien people against the colonizers,” he commented.
Deposed Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum said in an interview with Jeune Afrique last May that he was concerned about Wagner’s influence and the possibility of a Wagner-backed coup. “We are watching you,” he warned “people” who he said wanted to “use” Wagner for that purpose.
In his first appearance, the self-proclaimed head of the CLSP coup junta, General Abdourahamane Tiani, reproached Bazoum for his refusal to collaborate with Burkina Faso and Mali when the three countries share the African territory with the most jihadist activity, thus opening the door to a strengthening ties with its neighbors. All three share in effect the area known as the three borders, where the three countries meet. It is a vast and dangerous desert territory that is experiencing a resurgence of jihadism, with weekly attacks perpetrated by groups loyal to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, engaged in bloody combat to gain control.
The region suffers not only from terrorism and political instability, but also from the consequences of climate change. In Niger alone, 4.3 million people (out of a population of 26 million) depend on humanitarian assistance, according to the UN, which counts 370,000 internally displaced persons and another 250,000 refugees from Mali, Burkina and Nigeria, making it a one of the most sensitive areas of the planet.
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