Dozens of soldiers arrested in Niger after attempted mutiny

After nearly 24 hours of unrest dozens of soldiers in Niger’s capital were arrested or killed on Saturday after attempting a mutiny.

The revolt was reportedly staged by young soldiers angry about worsening militant violence under the country’s present government.

Russia’s Africa Corps provided aerial and ground support to local forces to resist the rebellion, according to analysts and diplomats.

State broadcaster RTN showed footage of dozens of mostly young soldiers being paraded in public after sustained gunfire and explosions were heard overnight into Saturday at a key military base.

The base is located within Niamey’s main airport and near the presidential palace.

The whereabouts of military leader Abdourahamane Tchiani were unclear.

Senior Nigerien military officers visited the Africa Corps base at the airport “and expressed gratitude to its servicemen for their assistance in suppressing the rebellion,” Russian media quoted Moscow’s Ambassador to Niger Viktor Voropayev as saying.

The rebelling soldiers had camped at the military base until late Saturday while the presidential guard secured the presidential palace and was deployed to regain control of the base, analysts and diplomats said.

The loyalist forces have regained the “upper hand at least at the airport (and base),” according to Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center.

Some forces were, however, heading to the capital and it remained unclear if they were coming to support the mutiny or government, Nasr added.

Support for Tiani

Once order was restored, hundreds of people gathered in Niamey to show their support for the country’s leader, Abdourahmane Tiani.

Ibrahim Boubacar is head of a pro-government association:

“We do not accept that ill-intentioned individuals try to destabilize us, or try to undermine this emancipatory process that we have embraced. Because the external enemies we drove out have vowed to take all necessary measures to destabilize us and create divisions among us.”

Tiani came to power in a 2023 coup which he said was prompted by the elected government’s inability to stem jihadist violence.

Since then Niger has severed ties with longtime Western security partners, turning instead to Russia.

But the militant violence and rampant killing of security forces has continued, reportedly fueling unrest within the military.

Some of the mutinous soldiers came from the southwest of the country, among the regions worst-hit by insecurity, diplomats and analysts said.