NAIROBI – The Nigerien capital of Niamey is under attack again, with gunfire and explosions reported near Diori Hamani International Airport and the presidential palace. The clashes began overnight and come just over two months after the attack claimed by the jihadists of Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, which resulted in dozens of casualties among soldiers, attackers, and civilians. At the end of January, there was another raid, again targeting Diori Hamani Airport and the Air Base 101 military base.
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The military junta, which came to power after the 2023 coup and is led by General Abdourahamane Tchiani, confirmed the hypothesis of an attempted “coup within the coup” against it. “The rapid intervention of the defense and security forces,” said Minister Salifou Mody, “allowed us to contain this insurgent movement and gradually regain control of the affected areas. The population is urged to remain calm and carry out their daily activities freely.”
A new blow to the country’s stability
Niger is a uranium-rich country in the heart of the Sahel, the semi-desert belt south of the Sahara that has for years become the global epicenter of terrorism. The recently thwarted assault recalls the “coup within the coup” already experienced by military allies in Mali in 2020-2021 and Burkina Faso in 2022, increasing nervousness about the stability and prospects of one of the last juntas to emerge from the spiral of coups that today links the “coup belt” between the two coasts.
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Tchiani’s junta came to power by ousting the old pro-French leader Mohamed Bazoum with the goal of dismantling the Islamist insurgency that has been wearing down the country for years. The results of the anti-terrorist offensive are weak, in a climate of instability also worsened by recent raids by armed groups and the more pronounced advance suffered by another key ally, Mali, at the end of April. Tchiani’s government is linked to the Russian contractors of Africa Corps, the former Wagner company, among the targets of the last attack on the airport in June and connected to the Sahelian juntas by more or less institutionalized cooperation relationships.
Violence is ongoing, and some sources consulted by Sole 24 Ore consider a diagnosis premature, but the scenario of a new coup “is more than plausible for several reasons,” explains analyst Luciano Pollichieni. Firstly, Pollichieni says, the deterioration of the security situation and an opening to insurgents have sown discontent among the army ranks and even in circles already close to Tchiani. Secondly, Tchiani says, the power establishment is “notoriously fragmented” and suggests a déjà-vu compared to the double coups that took place in Bamako and Ouagadougou. “Whatever happens,” Pollichieni emphasizes, “this is the third or fourth attack in eight months. Tchiani’s promises of security have been broken.”
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