Niger: Military regime claims to regain control from mutineers in Niamey

Gunfire and explosions broke out overnight from Friday to Saturday, August 29, in Niamey, around military base 101 and the presidential palace. General Tiani's regime claims to have quelled the mutiny.

It was around 1 a.m. local time that the first shots rang out near military base 101, adjacent to Niamey's international airport. Residents described "bursts of gunfire" continuing until the early hours of the morning, filmed by a local journalist from the airport area.

According to a statement read on public television and signed by the Minister of Defense, General Salifou Mody, mutineers "attempted to hold soldiers hostage" at the base and "fired on certain sensitive sites" in the capital. "The prompt response of the defense and security forces made it possible to contain this unrest and gradually regain control of these sites," he added, calling on the population to "remain calm and go about their business freely."

Insurgents from the Nigerien armed forces also attempted to enter the presidential palace, according to a security source based in West Africa. They were repelled by the presidential guard, although exchanges of fire continued around the palace into the morning. An African diplomat stationed in Niamey stated that "the guard has remained loyal" to General Abdourahamane Tiani, head of the military regime since the July 2023 coup. Ibrahim Bana, a Nigerien member of parliament representing the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), asserted on Facebook that "the situation is completely under the control of the presidential guard."

In the streets of the capital, access to the presidential palace and the national television station was blocked by soldiers, forcing motorists to turn around. The national television station, Télé Sahel, briefly went off the air in the morning: a black screen replaced the programs around 9:00 a.m., both via satellite and online. The signal was restored around 10:00 a.m., without any mention of the unrest being broadcast. The area around the main market, usually bustling, was unusually quiet.

This mutiny comes amid a climate of great instability. It is the third time this year that Niamey has been the scene of clashes, but the two previous incidents, in January and June, were jihadist attacks against the international airport, repelled within hours. General Tiani had then referred to "a flaw in the security apparatus."

Base 101 holds particular strategic importance: it houses the headquarters of Africa Corps, Niamey's Russian military partner, as well as the headquarters of the unified AES force, which includes Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali. The site also housed, between December and January, a large shipment of uranium concentrate, the whereabouts of which have not been traced since.