Niger’s military junta deals a heavy blow to France’s presence in West Africa

Supporters of Niger’s military junta take part in a demonstration in front of a French army base in the capital Niamey on August 11, 2023.STRINGER (REUTERS)

“Down with France!”, “France must go!”. Since the July 26 coup in Niger, thousands of people have demonstrated in front of the Embassy and the French military base in Niamey, the capital of the African country. Images of crowds burning the tricolor flag and chanting anti-French slogans are reminiscent of Mali in 2020 and Burkina Faso in 2022, when military regimes also seized power in both countries. The scene repeats itself and highlights the accelerated loss of influence of the former metropolis in the Sahel, a region destabilized by the violence of Islamist groups.

France, which has condemned the coup, is closely watching the evolution of the situation in Niger, where it maintains a contingent of 1,500 soldiers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has insisted that it strongly supports the decisions of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). This regional organization approved on Thursday to activate a military force to restore the ousted president Mohamed Bazoum to power, although it insists on not exhausting the path of dialogue. The military chiefs of its member states have agreed to meet next Thursday and Friday in Accra (Ghana) to prepare a possible intervention to restore democratic order, according to a spokesman for ECOWAS.

Although diplomacy prevails for the moment, uncertainty looms. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, —on vacation in the south of France— has held talks both with his cabinet and his ambassador in the African country, as well as with his European, American and ECOWAS partners, the Élysée has reported. He has also communicated by phone with Bazoum, a key ally, being held with his wife and his son at his residence.

For Paris, the overthrow of Bazoum is the icing on the cake of a process that comes from before, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna. Niger was considered the last partner of the West in the region, where Russia, China and Turkey have been extending their influence for years. In addition to the anti-jihadist fight, Niamey collaborates in containing migration in the area and is one of the major suppliers of uranium to the European Union. Especially to France, whose company Orano extracts the metal.

But the country, with 25 million inhabitants and one of the least developed in the world, was also the epicenter of French action in the Sahel after the uprisings in Mali and Burkina Faso and the expulsion of French soldiers from both countries. A large part of the 1,500 soldiers stationed in Niger comes from the anti-jihadist operation Barkhane, deployed in neighboring Mali in 2014 to stop the advance of the Islamists towards the capital.

The mission, which ended in 2022 in full tension with the Bamako coup regime, did not prevent the area from becoming the world epicenter of jihadism, fueling the discontent of the authorities and the resentment of public opinion towards Paris, accompanied by virulent campaigns in social networks.

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A scapegoat?

Since then, the former colony has been in the eye of the hurricane. France’s mistake, after announcing the end of the Barkhane operation, “is to have believed that it could still play a leading role with a very important military presence in that region,” analyzes Rémi Carayol, a journalist specializing in the Sahel and coordinator of the editorial committee of the magazine Afrique XXI, in an interview with the radio station France Culture. Not only “it seemed evident that it was not something desired by a certain number of heads of state in the region and by the population, but also that it could constitute a form of embrittlement for the powers that accept it,” he continued.

During the decades since the declarations of independence, France has maintained great political and military influence in the region. But after the withdrawal of the troops in Mali and Burkina Faso, she wanted to redefine her strategy. At the end of February, Macron defended the existence of “another way” and announced a new reduction in the number of French soldiers deployed on the continent, although excluding Djibouti, in the Horn of Africa, where France has its largest military base (some 1,700 troops). ). He also stressed that there would no longer be “military bases as such”, but that they would be “co-managed” with partner countries.

But anti-French rhetoric remains omnipresent. Since coming to power, the military junta in Niger has multiplied the accusations against Paris. The National Council for the Protection of the Fatherland, which brings together the coup leaders, accused France of wanting to “intervene militarily” to restore constitutional order, of having violated the airspace closure and of having released imprisoned terrorists. The facts were quickly denied by Paris. The new leaders of Niamey also accuse ECOWAS of being an organization “in the pay” of the former colonial power.

Demonstration in front of the French Embassy in Niamey, after the military coup against President Mohamed Bazoum. – (AFP)

A report published in June by the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) underscores that rhetoric against the former colonial power also has a political function in some West African countries. “African political elites turn to the ‘French plot’ to explain their disappointing political, economic or security records,” he warns. Although the discourse has been around for a long time, the study highlights that it has significantly permeated popular categories “to the point of becoming axioms of political discourse.”

In the case of Niger, the military justified the coup due to the “continuing deterioration of the security situation and economic and social misgovernance.” The coup started by members of the military attached to the presidential guard, including its chief, General Omar Tchiani, who feared being dismissed in the coming days.

On August 3, the junta decided to break the military agreements that Niamey had with France. Paris, for the moment, insists that a departure of its troops is not on the agenda. The French soldiers stationed in Niger, she recalls, “are so at the request of the legitimate Nigerien authorities.” President Bazoum, moreover, has not resigned, insists the Élysée. If the French contingent leaves Niger, only Chad would retain a military base from the former metropolis in the Sahel.

French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, however, rejects the argument that Paris is losing influence on the continent. “The reality is that France is particularly influential in Africa, it is highly exposed precisely because it is influential and, because it is highly exposed, it is the target of destabilization maneuvers,” he told the Var-Matin newspaper in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Following the first protest in front of the French diplomatic legation on July 30, Macron was quick to react, saying he would not tolerate “any attack against France and its interests.” Since then, the country has evacuated its citizens from the African nation, suspended its financial and development aid, and supported economic sanctions against it.

The situation is also closely watched by the United States, which maintains a military base with a thousand soldiers in that nation. The number two of the State Department, Victoria Nuland, traveled to Niamey last week to meet with the leaders of the coup. France, on the other hand, is relegated to the background to limit the “conflagration risks”, notes an editorial in the newspaper Le Monde.

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