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Fighting erupted in Niger’s capital Saturday between the presidential guard and elements of the armed forces, following a night of heavy gunfire in parts of Niamey, as the West African nation’s three-year-old military junta faced its most serious internal security test since taking power.
“There was an attempt by insurgents from the Nigerien armed forces to enter the presidential palace,” a security source told AFP. “They were pushed back by the presidential guard. Exchanges of gunfire are continuing at the palace.”
An African diplomat in Niamey said the presidential guard remained loyal to ruler General Abdourahamane Tiani as of Saturday. The military said it was gradually regaining control after mutineers took soldiers hostage at a base adjacent to the capital’s airport. In a statement read on public television and signed by Defence Minister General Salifou Mody, authorities called on the public to remain calm and go about their business freely.
Gunfire began in the early hours of Saturday morning, prompting the military to post on social media urging calm and warning against sharing unverified information. “Our defence and security forces have been mobilised for the defence of the homeland,” the statement said.
Multiple residents described sustained heavy weapons fire and explosions concentrated around Base 101 near Niamey’s airport. One resident told AFP he heard “bursts of gunfire” around 7:00 a.m. local time and watched a military vehicle heading toward the base turn back. “The weapons we’re hearing are not the kind that terrorists on motorbikes can carry. The fighting has been non-stop since last night,” he said. Another resident in western Niamey reported sporadic small arms fire around 5:00 a.m., while a video from a local journalist showed the first shots beginning around 1:00 a.m. and continuing until daybreak.
National broadcaster Tele Sahel went off air for just over an hour, replaced by a black screen on both satellite and online platforms, before service resumed around 10:00 a.m. GMT. Residents said soldiers blocked access to both the presidential palace and the national television headquarters. Social media posts described shooting and explosions concentrated in Niamey’s administrative district, where the palace and TV station are located, and online videos showed armoured vehicles reinforcing the neighborhood near the airport.
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Saturday’s unrest marks the third time this year that Niamey’s airport complex has come under attack. In January, the Islamic State in the Sahel struck the site, and in late June, the rival Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, al-Qaeda’s Sahel affiliate, launched a separate assault. The two jihadist groups are competing for territorial dominance across the Sahel in addition to targeting Nigerien civilians and security forces. Authorities said 20 assailants were killed and four soldiers wounded in the January attack, which Tiani later said exploited “a flaw in the system” and aimed to destroy the army’s air capabilities. The June attack killed at least 11 soldiers and two civilians alongside 22 attackers, according to the defence ministry; both prior assaults were repelled by government forces.
Tiani has ruled Niger since a July 2023 coup that removed elected President Mohamed Bazoum, part of a wave of military takeovers across the Sahel that has also swept Burkina Faso and Mali. All three juntas have withdrawn their countries from the Economic Community of West African States, distanced themselves from Western security partners including France, and pursued closer military cooperation with Russia.
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Base 101, located within Niamey’s international airport complex, holds particular strategic weight: it hosts the headquarters of Russia’s Africa Corps contingent in Niger and the command structure for the joint military force of the Alliance of Sahel States, the security bloc formed by Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. The site also drew scrutiny after hosting a large shipment of uranium concentrate between December and January, held up while awaiting export; no movement of that shipment has been identified since.
No casualty figures had been released for Saturday’s clashes as of the time of reporting, and it remained unclear how many mutineers were involved, how the standoff at the presidential palace would be resolved, or whether the situation had been fully contained beyond the government’s stated claim of regaining control.
