France denies role in failed Niger mutiny, calls junta accusation ‘pure fantasy’
France has rejected as “pure fantasy” an allegation by Niger’s military junta that Paris helped incite the failed mutiny that shook Niamey on Aug. 29, a sign of how far ties have deteriorated since the 2023 coup.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Saturday that there was no French role in the attack on a military airbase and the presidential palace. “There was never any intention, nor any means, that France would have mobilized,” he told RFI radio.
The denial came a day after Niger’s ruling military council met for the first time since the unrest and repeated its accusations against France. In a televised statement, government spokesman Soumana Boubacar said the attack was an operation “instigated and sustained by a vast network of collusion headed by the French regime of Mr [Emmanuel] Macron.” He added that “traitorous and renegade elements” had been promised rewards for carrying out “unfulfilled ambitions of Macron and his cronies in our country,” and predicted that such “undermining maneuvers will always fail.”
Niger’s government has since broadened its accusations to unnamed neighbors, saying “African brothers” served as a bridge for the plot. State television aired an air force captain naming Benin, Chad, Ivory Coast and the regional bloc ECOWAS as backers. Benin responded sharply, with a spokesman saying “no one in their right mind” believes the claim.
No evidence has been made public. Junta leader General Abdourahamane Tchiani, who seized power in 2023, expelled French forces and turned to Russia for security support, has not appeared in public since the mutiny. At the same meeting, officials acknowledged for the first time that civilians were among those killed in the violence.
The mutiny erupted at Base 101, a military facility inside Niamey’s international airport, when soldiers opened fire on their commanders and across the city. The fighting reached the presidential palace and knocked the state broadcaster off air before the army, aided by Russian paramilitary fighters from Africa Corps, regained control of the base. Hundreds of soldiers were reported to have taken part, and dozens were killed or arrested.
Analysts argue that the real trigger is more likely battlefield frustration than an orchestrated foreign conspiracy. Despite Niger’s pivot to Moscow, attacks by groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL have continued, and front-line units have suffered serious losses. The seizure of uranium assets from French nuclear company Orano has added a further economic grievance to the political rupture with Paris. For Tchiani, blaming external enemies may help consolidate support at home, but it does not address the strains inside an army still struggling to contain the insurgency.