In Niger, the hunt for soldiers suspected of taking part in the attempted mutiny of 28 and 29 August shows no sign of slowing. A week after the events, arrests actually intensified over the weekend of 5 and 6 September, in a climate where Nigerien authorities refuse to release any figures on how many people have been detained.
A captain was notably apprehended about a hundred kilometres from Niamey before being escorted to the capital. Interrogations, meanwhile, continue in parallel, with the public left in the dark about how many suspects are currently held. A regional security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, points to considerable numbers, describing those under arrest as « very many, » going as far as to say « dozens upon dozens, if not hundreds » of soldiers, particularly from the special forces, the very units that led the assault on the presidential palace and Air Base 101 on the night of 28 to 29 August.
That base, adjoining Niamey’s Diori Hamani international airport, was the scene of intense fighting for several hours. According to accounts gathered on the ground, heavy gunfire and explosions rang out across several strategic districts of the capital from around one in the morning, before the presidential guard, backed by Russian Africa Corps paramilitaries, managed to regain control of the situation. State television, Télé Sahel, went off air for more than an hour, a telling symbol of the confusion that gripped the city that night.
To shed light on the circumstances behind this attempted destabilisation, a commission of inquiry has been set up, led by an officer close to General Abdourahamane Tiani, the country’s strongman since his own coup in July 2023. The government held its first cabinet meeting devoted to the affair on Friday 4 September, a session marked by an unprecedented admission: the existence of civilian casualties among those caught up in the fighting. Authorities nonetheless continue to describe the events as an « attempted destabilisation, » raising the possibility of foreign complicity without naming a specific state as responsible.
That thinly veiled accusation did not go unanswered internationally. France firmly rejected any involvement in the affair, with Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot dismissing the insinuations as « pure fantasy. » For its part, the Nigerien regime continues to project a united diplomatic front, highlighting the backing of its regional and international partners: Mali and Burkina Faso, its allies within the Alliance of Sahel States, as well as Algeria and Russia, whose Africa Corps expeditionary force is said to have played a decisive role in securing General Tiani during the mutiny’s most critical hours.
Tiani himself has made no public appearance or statement since the events, a silence that stands in stark contrast to the scale of the crackdown underway and that continues to fuel questions about the true state of the balance of power within Niger’s army, a week after the most serious internal challenge his regime has faced since taking power.