🇳🇪🇷🇺🆚🇫🇷🕵️Niger Accuses France of Sponsoring Mutiny as Niamey Thanks Russian Africa Corps
NIAMEY — Niger’s military government has accused France of helping to instigate last week’s violent military mutiny in Niamey, dramatically escalating an already bitter confrontation between the former colonial power and its former West African ally.
In a government statement broadcast on national television, Nigerien authorities alleged that the August 29 uprising was supported by a broad network of foreign accomplices headed by France. The government has not publicly produced detailed evidence proving French involvement, while Paris has firmly rejected the accusation.
The mutiny represented one of the gravest challenges to General Abdourahamane Tiani since he seized power in the July 2023 coup.
Fighting centred on Air Base 101, located within the Diori Hamani International Airport complex. Mutinous troops seized the strategically important installation, while violence also spread towards sensitive sites around the capital, including areas near the presidential palace and state broadcaster.
Government forces eventually regained control, but Russian military personnel played an important role.
Russia’s ambassador to Niger confirmed that Moscow’s Africa Corps intervened after receiving a request for assistance from Nigerien authorities. Russian forces provided support to loyalist troops as they moved against the mutineers and retook Base 101.
Niamey has subsequently thanked Russia for its assistance, highlighting how profoundly Niger’s foreign-security relationships have changed since 2023.
France, once Niger’s dominant Western military partner, has seen its forces expelled and its political influence sharply reduced. Meanwhile, Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have strengthened security cooperation with Moscow as part of their broader geopolitical realignment. Russia and the three Sahel states pledged in July to deepen military cooperation.
The confrontation also comes amid an increasingly bitter dispute over Niger’s natural resources, particularly uranium, following moves against French nuclear company Orano.
Paris has rejected Niamey’s latest allegations. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot reportedly dismissed the claims as “pure fantasies.”
Niger’s government says it is now compiling a legal dossier concerning the alleged foreign involvement and has reserved the right to pursue France through international judicial institutions.
The failed mutiny therefore risks becoming more than an internal military crisis: it has opened another front in the struggle between declining French influence and expanding Russian power across the Sahel.