France denies inciting failed Niger mutiny, calls accusation ‘pure fantasy’

Niger’s government has widened its blame to unnamed neighbours a week after the assault on a military base.

A soldier checks a vehicle at a roadside checkpoint following a mutineers' attack on the airport and the presidency in Niamey [File: Reuters]

France has dismissed as “pure fantasy” Niger’s claim that Paris helped incite a mutiny in which soldiers stormed a military airbase and the presidential palace in the capital, Niamey.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot made the comment on Saturday, a week after the August 29 assault and a day after Niger’s ruling military council met for the first time since the unrest and repeated its accusations against France.

list 1 of 2 Niger displays arsenal seized after failed military mutiny

list 2 of 2 Niger accuses France of orchestrating failed military mutiny

“This operation, with its international ramifications, was instigated and sustained by a vast network of collusion headed by the French regime of Mr [Emmanuel] Macron,” said Soumana Boubacar, Niger’s government spokesperson, in a statement read out on TV on Friday.

“Traitorous and renegade elements, to whom promises of great things were made, were tasked with carrying out unfulfilled ambitions of Macron and his cronies in our country,” he claimed, saying such “undermining manoeuvres will always fail”.

In response to the accusations, France’s Barrot dismissed the claims and told RFI radio on Saturday: “There never was any intention, nor means that France would have mobilised.”

The exchange marks the latest strain in a relationship that has soured sharply since General Abdourahamane Tchiani seized power in a 2023 coup and turned to Russia for military backing instead of France, Niger’s former colonial power.

The mutiny last week began at Base 101, a military facility inside Niamey’s international airport, when soldiers turned on their commanders and opened fire at several sites in the city.

Fighting spread to the presidential palace and knocked the state broadcaster off air for hours, before Niger’s army, helped by Russian paramilitary fighters known as Africa Corps , retook the base the next day.

State media said hundreds of soldiers took part, and dozens were killed or arrested.

Niger’s government has since widened its accusations beyond France, saying unnamed “African brothers” served as a bridge for the plot, after state television aired a video of an air force captain naming Benin, Chad, Ivory Coast and the regional bloc ECOWAS as backers of the attack.

Benin’s government has rejected the claim, with a spokesman saying “no one in their right mind” believes it.

In that same meeting, Niger’s government acknowledged for the first time that civilians had died in the violence.

That admission came amid a pattern in which Tchiani, who has not appeared in public since the mutiny, has blamed France and other West African states for unrest without producing evidence, which analysts say is aimed more at shaping opinion at home than any legal case.

The pivot to Russia has done little to stop attacks by fighters linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS), leaving front-line soldiers who have suffered heavy losses increasingly frustrated, a grievance analysts regard as the true driver of the mutiny.

Relations with Paris have soured further still over Niger’s seizure of uranium assets from French nuclear firm Orano.

在军事基地遭到袭击一周后，尼日尔政府将矛头指向了未指明的邻国。

在叛乱分子袭击尼亚美机场和总统府后，一名士兵在路边检查站检查车辆。[图片：路透社]

法国驳斥了尼日尔的说法，称其“纯属幻想”，尼日尔声称巴黎帮助煽动了一场兵变，士兵们冲进了首都尼亚美的一座军事空军基地和总统府。

法国外交部长让-诺埃尔·巴罗于周六发表了上述评论。此前一周，即 8 月 29 日的袭击事件发生后，以及尼日尔执政军事委员会自动乱以来首次召开会议并重申对法国的指控的第二天。

列表 1/2：尼日尔展示军事叛乱失败后缴获的军火库

列表 2/2：尼日尔指责法国策划了失败的军事叛乱

尼日尔政府发言人苏马纳·布巴卡尔周五在电视上发表声明称：“这项行动及其国际影响，是由法国总统马克龙领导的庞大勾结网络发起和维持的。”

他声称：“那些被许诺美好未来的叛国分子和叛逆分子，被委以重任，去实现马克龙及其亲信在我们国家未竟的野心”，并表示这种“破坏性举动注定会失败”。

针对这些指控，法国外长巴罗特驳斥了这些说法，并在周六接受法国国际广播电台采访时表示：“法国从来没有任何意图，也没有任何手段会进行动员。”

此次交流标志着两国关系的最新紧张局势。自阿卜杜拉哈曼·奇亚尼将军在 2023 年发动政变夺取政权，并转而寻求俄罗斯而非尼日尔的前殖民宗主国法国的军事支持以来，两国关系急剧恶化。

上周的兵变始于尼亚美国际机场内的 101 号军事基地，士兵们向指挥官发起攻击，并在城内多个地点开火。

战斗蔓延至总统府，导致国家广播公司停播数小时。第二天，在被称为“非洲军团”的俄罗斯准军事部队的帮助下，尼日尔军队重新夺回了该基地。

官方媒体称，数百名士兵参与了此次行动，数十人死亡或被捕。

尼日尔政府随后将指控范围扩大到法国以外，称一些未具名的“非洲兄弟”为此次阴谋提供了桥梁。此前，国家电视台播放了一段视频，视频中一名空军上尉指认贝宁、乍得、科特迪瓦和西非国家经济共同体（ECOWAS）是此次袭击的支持者。

贝宁政府驳斥了这一说法，一位发言人表示“任何一个头脑正常的人都不会相信这种说法”。

在同一次会议上，尼日尔政府首次承认有平民在暴力事件中丧生。

此前，自兵变以来一直未公开露面的奇亚尼，一直指责法国和其他西非国家造成动乱，却拿不出任何证据。分析人士认为，奇亚尼此举与其说是为了提起诉讼，不如说是为了左右国内舆论。

转向俄罗斯并没有阻止与基地组织和伊斯兰国（ISIS）有关联的武装分子发动的袭击，这让遭受重大损失的前线士兵越来越沮丧，分析人士认为，这种不满才是兵变的真正驱动因素。

尼日尔没收法国核能公司奥拉诺的铀资产，导致尼日尔与巴黎的关系进一步恶化。