NIAMEY, Sept 4 (Reuters) – Niger has blamed France for inciting an attack on a key military airbase by mutinous soldiers last week, according to a government statement read on TV on Friday.
• Mutinous soldiers in the West African country attacked the airport and the presidency in the capital, Niamey, on August 29, the latest threat to the rule of Abdourahamane Tiani, who seized power in a 2023 coup.
• Explosions and gunfire also rang out at a military airbase, but Niger’s army, backed by Russian paramilitary forces, regained control over it the next day.
• The Council of Ministers on Friday concluded that the attack had been incited by a vast network of accomplices led by France, according to the statement.
• “A substantial body of evidence has been compiled regarding this attack, and Niger reserves the right to bring the matter before international courts,” the government said in the statement.
• The attack highlighted tensions within Niger’s armed forces, which have suffered repeated battlefield losses while fighting a jihadist insurgency.
• Tiani blamed France and other West African countries for unrest in the capital earlier this year, without providing evidence.
(Reporting by Niger newsroom; Writing by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Tom Hogue)
