Late in the morning on Sunday, May 12, along the road from the airport to the center of Niamey, Niger’s capital, the horizon suddenly turned dark as what appeared to be a wall began to move in the direction of the city. There was no time to seek shelter. Within minutes, the sandstorm engulfed everything in a curtain tinged with the red of the desert in this region. It created a surreal, outer-space atmosphere in which it was impossible to distinguish between objects and people. When the dust dispersed and the temperature rose rapidly to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, a slow procession of about 100 men, riding Chinese scooters and old Japanese enduro motorcycles, was visible on the main road. A crowd of children, attracted by the honking, emerged from the hovels surrounding the avenues and began to follow, laughing and cheering. Only when the procession moved closer was it possible to hear that the men were shouting “Long live Russia, death to France! Long live Putin, death to Macron!” The shouts and honks grew louder every time the procession turned onto a roundabout, the riders saluting the Russian flags hoisted three days earlier in every square of the capital.
In Niger, history runs its course slowly, like the waters of the great river that gives the country its name and flows through Niamey. Then suddenly, a year ago, events in the country sped up, like a flash flood that accelerated incessantly until, in mid-May, it swept the country entirely free from the past. In just seven days, political and economic alliances were shattered, putting the future of the entire Sahel region — and perhaps the entire continent — in question. Such a swift transformation is unprecedented in Niger. Locals greeted the radical changes with mixed feelings, ranging from euphoria to fear. They could agree on only one thing: that “a radical change is coming,” as one university student who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals explained to New Lines. “I cannot be certain that it will be for the worse, but it is certainly something totally new for Niger.”
Until recently, Niger did not have diplomatic relations with Russia. Now, there is a newly opened Russian embassy in Niamey. Neighboring Mali had a strong relationship with the USSR, with the postcolonial ruling class studying at Moscow’s Lumumba University, the hotbed of Soviet Third Worldism during the Cold War. But Niger, a former French colony with a population of over 21 million, has always been linked to the West and never felt the need to break away, not even after it gained its independence from France in 1960. For over 60 years, as the country alternated between elected governments and military juntas, Paris remained the primary political, business and cultural reference point for the people of Niger.
After a decade in power, President Mahamadou Issoufou was succeeded in 2021 by Mohamed Bazoum; the country had by then perfected what was considered a model of democracy and development, with the pacification of tribal conflicts and the arrival of a considerable flow of aid from the EU and the U.S. While Niger is very poor, with a per capita GDP of only $585 per year, it is strategically located at the crossroads of the migrant routes leading across Africa toward the Mediterranean and, ultimately, Europe. The country had become the stronghold of international contingents engaged in the fight against jihadist attacks, which are rampant in the Sahel. Instructors, special forces, fighter-bombers, and attack and reconnaissance drones are all present in the region, as are 3,000 French soldiers and 1,000 European troops, mainly Italians and Germans. The Americans, who have about 1,300 soldiers stationed there, built Airbase 201 in the north, in Agadez. The project cost $100 million and allows the Pentagon’s remote-controlled reconnaissance aircraft to watch over half the continent.
The 2021 coup in Mali opened the door to the arrival of mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group. Mali expelled U.N. blue helmets and European soldiers and violence soon broke out in Burkina Faso as well, sparked by the ruling colonels. Niger thus became the last Western stronghold in the region of Central Africa — a garrison state that Gen. Michael E. Langley, commander of the U.S. Africa Command, described to The Washington Post in February as “vital” for monitoring the activities of extremists affiliated with al Qaeda and the Islamic State group in the Sahel. But the events of July 26, 2023, showed that Niger’s democracy and its supposedly unshakable commitment to the West were an illusion. In a move that surprised everyone, the armed forces, led by Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, arrested President Bazoum and reset the government, claiming the state’s institutions were corrupt and unable to stop jihadist attacks. This was a completely unexpected move. The generals who staged the coup had attended universities in Paris and Washington; their units were trained and equipped exclusively by NATO member states. Everyone had failed to grasp what was really happening in Niger.
“The West made a fatal mistake: They thought they could come to an agreement with political leaders like former President Bazoum and manipulate the population through them,” Ahmed Bello, a supporter of the coup and a new player on the political scene in Niamey, told New Lines. “Throughout the Sahel, the military realized that the people did not agree.”
Besides nationalism and the need for mobilization against jihadists, resentment against France is the only core belief shared by the factions who staged the coup, and their contempt is endorsed by a significant portion of the population, at least in urban centers. Maikoul Zodi, leader of the local chapter of Tournons La Page (Let’s Turn the Page), an international consortium of pro-democracy organizations, was among the first to rally in the streets to protest against Paris, as early as 2021. Zodi explained: “We realized that in 10 years French troops had not achieved any results against the militants: They had deployed 5,000 legionnaires in the Sahel but couldn’t stop them. The morale of our army was collapsing, and we feared we were becoming another Afghanistan.” What does Afghanistan have to do with it? “We don’t like foreigners to come and wage their war here, weakening our institutions, as was the case in Kabul,” Zodi continued, as he walked along dressed in traditional local clothes and was recognized by some passersby. “We want to have a strong, republican army ready to defend the integrity of the territory and the welfare of our citizens.”
Like others, he alluded to the images of Afghan forces crumbling within hours of the U.S. withdrawal, a scene that has had a profound effect on those nations fighting Islamist guerrillas.
“The problem was not the cooperation with France but the way it was handled,” Zodi stressed. “We don’t need troops to come and wage war for us. But instead we need training, logistics and information about the enemies. The French were not only unwilling to provide such services but also insisted on staying here. This made us realize that they did not want to help us and were aiming only to fulfill their own economic interests.”
Zodi’s worldview has spread widely and accounts for the broad popular consensus the generals currently enjoy. In the weeks immediately following the coup they signaled their willingness to cooperate with the U.S. and the EU, limiting their scope of action to only challenging Paris. But after the initial postcoup period, they switched gears and turned toward isolationism. Funding for international programs has been frozen; cool relations with the member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have almost led to war; and the immediate expulsion of the French military has resulted in an escalation of militant incursions. Starting last fall, with no funding and the prospect of a crisis, the Homeland Preservation Council — the name given to the junta, which is composed exclusively of military officers with the sole exception of Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine — has been inching closer to Moscow. At first, to some observers, this might have seemed as though they were only going through the motions of a courtship aimed at convincing the U.S. and the EU to revive their aid programs. Instead, in mid-May, they sealed their vows.
Moscow immediately seized the opportunity to insert the last piece in a jigsaw puzzle, with the Russian Federation firmly established in Cyrenaica (a region in eastern Libya), Mali, Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic. When it came to Niger, Russia only had to follow more vigorously the script that had already allowed it to penetrate neighboring nations. It starts by presenting itself as the armed antidote to jihadism, and it carries on leveraging hatred for France in order to impose authority.
“Putin’s speech convinced me right away, because you feel like he is an African,” Bello said. “He understood our problems and how he can help us solve them on our own. He listed the damage of colonial rule, how it crushed our culture and the lives of the people of the Sahel. In the beginning, I was practically the only one who spoke publicly about the need to cooperate with Russia. This created problems for me with the old regime; they even arrested me. But now the new government is favorable. I can finally say what I want.”
Bello is the president of Let’s Develop Niger and communications coordinator in Niger for the Russia-Africa Alternative Partnership for Economic Development (PARADE), which has its headquarters in Senegal. These two organizations are widely believed to be acting to cement a consensus in favor of Russia. On May 14, Bello launched a new initiative, Together Hand in Hand Niger-Russia, with an event at the Radisson Blu Hotel, in a room decorated with a portrait that depicted Putin and the coup leader Tchiani. The event began with an imam blessing “the symbol of the spirituality shared by the two nations.”
From the stage, the organization’s president, Dicko Mouhamadou, proclaimed, “In an unprecedented burst of patriotism, we will lay the real foundation for Niger’s development through the assertion of its effective independence and full sovereignty.” Meanwhile, Gen. Abdou Sidikou Issa was appointed Niger’s first ambassador to Moscow. On that evening at the Radisson Blu restaurant, in a sign of Niger’s shifting political and business orientations, a table of Russians with the posture of apparatchiks appeared for the first time in lieu of the Americans and French who once held court there. Two days later, during a summit filmed by local TV, the divorce from the U.S. was celebrated, setting Sept. 15 as the deadline for the withdrawal of the American military.
“When I spoke with the Russians I understood that they have great humanity and show us respect,” Bello said. “They are people of their word: They keep their commitments, they treat us with dignity.” It is the Kremlin’s manifesto, the contemporary revival of old Soviet-era anticolonialist slogans entrusted to evangelists like Bello. In such a vast nation — a bit larger than the state of California but three-quarters desert and with huge distances between cities — Moscow cannot rely solely on friendly circles in the capital, which is inhabited by just 1.2 million people, 5% of the total population. To overcome this obstacle, specialists in digital persuasion are reaching out via the cellphones of every person in Niger. This mission has been entrusted to Initiative for Africa, a nongovernmental organization that promotes the private sector, which is aggressively recruiting influencers and local celebrities to spread the message. Samira Sabou, an influential blogger who spoke out against the coup plotters, was arrested; after three weeks of detention, she announced her collaboration with Initiative for Africa. At the same time, the new military regime issued decrees that effectively criminalized dissent.
Pro-Russian spin doctors are now focusing on simple messaging that taps into conspiracy theories with adherents around the world. In this account, the French and U.S. intelligence agencies finance jihadist movements to terrorize the population, thus justifying their intervention. The Taliban are peddling a similar idea, accusing the CIA of implanting the Islamic State group in Afghanistan. The operation is more sophisticated in Niger and, outlandish as it sounds, it is spreading quickly among the public.
“Terrorism does not really exist in the Sahel,” Bello said, echoing Russian messaging. According to him, France and the U.S. created the “scourge” of terrorism as a means of gaining control of certain areas that are rich in natural resources. Bukar Moussa, a clerk at the Niamey municipality believes the same: “Terrorists use European weapons. But where did they get them? The French gave them those weapons! They could never buy them. These are men who are hungry, who eat maybe once a day, and if they join those gangs it is because someone makes them promises. You will see that now the attacks will increase in the Gulf of Guinea countries, because that is where the Europeans are moving their bases.”
The social campaigns are working. Walking the streets of Niamey, one senses a climate of hostility toward Westerners. Though not so much racism based on skin color, there is a growing hatred of French and Americans, jacked up by government media proclamations.
“For many people they are all French,” explained a university student who asked to remain anonymous. “Here in the market if you show a Russian flag … they think it is French and they burn it. The colors are the same and they don’t know the difference.” It is hard to tell how many Moscow envoys there are. So far, three Russian Ilyushin-76 cargo planes diverted from Syria have landed in Niamey, with about 70 men in camouflage suits disembarking from the first flight. Although their faces were covered, they gave an interview to state-run Tele Sahel TV, in which they praised the brotherhood between Niger and Russia.
The cargo on the second flight was top secret. Perhaps it delivered some of the surface-to-air missiles that will make Niamey immune from ECOWAS jet squadrons, which threatened — but did not carry out — military action against Niger during the weeks immediately following the coup. The antiaircraft systems provided by Putin can also enforce the ban on American drone flights issued by the military junta. The third Ilyushin-76 was also shown on local television; the cargo hold was crammed with weapon crates and sacks of grain, which everyone suspects were looted from Ukraine. “A gift to the people of Niger,” said junta spokesperson Maj. Amadou Abdramane.
Zodi insisted the Russian military personnel landing in Niger were “not fighters but instructors.” He claimed the government had been transparent about the presence of Russian soldiers, explaining they had “brought equipment along and are teaching our soldiers how to use it.”
In Niamey, the purging of Western influence can be seen in newly renamed streets. Boulevard Francois Mitterrand has become Avenue de la Republique. A road unravels from the new Place de la Resistance, at the entrance of the airport, and leads to a giant fortified camp teeming with hangars. Until December, it housed the soon-to-be-expelled French contingent. Within this perimeter of barbed wire and cameras, the U.S. Air Force’s Base 101 is being cleared. In the meantime, however, personnel are being forced to share barracks and runways with the vanguard of the Russian army. The base is impossible to approach: Nigerien paratroopers manning a checkpoint deny access to anyone who approaches. No one is exempt from their inspections, not even the Italian instructors who remained in Niger on the basis of agreements between the respective governments. They are the last Westerners tolerated by the coup plotters.
The U.S. and the EU countries found themselves unable to mount effective resistance to Niger’s military coup. Initially, the Western states expressed support for the sanctions imposed by ECOWAS, but then divisions emerged: Washington, Rome and Berlin initiated a dialogue with the newly established military junta. Italy and Germany were concerned about the flow of migrants to the EU, while the U.S. feared the loss of its strategic counterterrorism bases. In an April 2, 2024, article titled “How the United States lost Niger,” Cameron Hudson, senior fellow in the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, wrote: “In this new multipolar world, it seems that the United States, still arguably the richest and most powerful country in the world, needs Niger, one of the world’s poorest and weakest countries, more than Niger needs it.” With Russia and China well positioned and eager to replace the Western states as military advisers and investors, Niger’s new military regime saw no downside in expelling first the French military, then the U.S. military.
Local Putin fans are confident that the handful of camouflage-suited advisers who came from Moscow will do better than 5,000 Western soldiers. “We saw Russia’s determination in Syria, then in the Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso and now in Niger,” Bello said. “The main need in the Sahel is security. The Russians have invested in this area, and I am sure we will see results. Thanks to their aid, Mali has been freed from terrorists, and in Burkina Faso they are defeating them.”
These claims of success in fighting the jihadists do not, however, stand up to scrutiny. In Mali, militants recently managed to shoot down one of the jets delivered by Moscow, and on May 20 jihadists carried out a massacre that destroyed a garrison just 60 miles from Niamey. A month later, in the same area, an even bloodier raid wiped out an entire army station. But little is said about these incidents and the local news reports are often distorted, displaying a marked tendency to blame events on the far-reaching hand of the French army or neighboring countries.
The taproot of resentment, however, is the history of colonial exploitation: “It is not possible that my country is rich underground and on the surface we are all poor,” said Moussa, the municipal employee. “Since I was born, I have not seen France do anything for us, nothing in 59 years. They even stole our uranium and didn’t even build a house.” Indeed, Niger is rich in natural resources. One-third of France’s nuclear power plants are powered by Niger’s uranium. There are also oil wells and gold mines. Yet the poverty is staggering. Statistics relegate the country to the bottom of the world’s charts. In Niamey, people sleep on mats thrown on the sand and there are hordes of children begging, even in the middle of the night. A hopeless mass of people is being pushed toward the city by militants’ raids and a desert that is itself also advancing because of global warming. The temperatures are climbing so high that the heat has wiped out plantations and pastures that have been active for centuries. Today they are devastated by a thirst for water that not even the Niger River can alleviate. Farmers and herders have no alternative to migration, although many of them lack the money that is necessary to travel abroad. Instead, they live in roadside wooden shacks that are almost uninhabitable due to the sweltering heat.
The men who staged the coup are also moving fast on the economic front. The key players, however, are not only Russian. In fact, most are Chinese. Their companies have just secured a contract for exploration of a new uranium deposit and oil fields. For the hydrocarbon license alone China will pay 400 million dollars over four years. The license for large uranium mines, which Niger revoked from the French company Areva, has been auctioned off. But while China is among the front-runners there is also strong interest from Iran, which has caused great alarm among Western decision-makers. The break with the U.S. — according to Abdramane — occurred precisely because in late March Washington emissaries intimated that they would not cooperate with Tehran. Meanwhile, China’s state giant, the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) is building the 1,100-mile pipeline that will run from the Agadem wells to the Gulf of Guinea using its own funds. In return, it will receive 75% of the crude oil extracted there. The extent of China’s influence in the area became evident during a violent clash that occurred within the span of a week in mid-May. It involved a dispute with Benin, where the closest ports to Niger are located, as well as the terminal of a pipeline that transfers Niger’s black gold to Beijing’s tankers. The coup plotters closed the borders and halted the transit of trucks carrying goods arriving via the sea, before indulging in solemn proclamations about national pride. There were fears that the situation would escalate into conflict, so China tried to mediate, but even these diplomatic efforts could not bring about a stable solution.
The tug-of-war with Benin has been exacerbated by conspiracy theories that see French and American spies plotting in the shadows everywhere. Bello made this explicit: “When we kick them out there are always plots to destabilize the country. People understand it. They see it.” The same suspicions were repeated in late June, when a new militant organization blew up a section of the pipeline to Benin.
The mobilization of nationalist instincts is also an attempt to cover up everyday problems: rice, onions and honey are produced in abundance in Niger, but other foods must be imported at inflated prices that are prohibitive. Milk, oil and medicine are increasingly scarce, as is meat from animal herds. Grocery stores practically do not exist, and the closure of the border with Benin has resulted in extremely expensive merchandise at market stalls. In the capital, electricity comes and goes. Even in the center of town, blackouts are frequent. The junta blames ECOWAS, accusing it of cutting power and imposing taxes on exports. In fact, ECOWAS has lifted the economic and border sanctions it imposed in the immediate aftermath of the coup. But the cost of living nonetheless doubled in a few months. Propaganda, however, has become the panacea for all the region’s woes. The Alliance of Sahel States (AES), a confederation including Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso that was formally established on July 6, is a poor man’s union that nonetheless amplifies victorious proclamations against jihadists, with apparent total trust in Moscow.
“All three together, the countries of the Sahel do not reach the wealth of Russia,” Moussa summarized, convinced that Russia’s vast natural resources were proof that ”Putin has no interest in taking away our raw materials as the French did.”
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