Recent Nigerien Coup Attempt: Key Things to Know as Soldiers Attack Presidential Palace
- Renegade soldiers attacked Niamey's main airport and the presidential palace area early Saturday, throwing Niger's capital into chaos
- Air Base 101, which hosts Russian mercenaries and Italian forces, was among the sites targeted during the overnight assault
- Analysts are divided on whether the violence constitutes a coup attempt or a mutiny, citing the highest level of organised military violence in recent memory
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Gunfire and explosions broke out across multiple locations in Niamey, Niger's capital, in the early hours of Saturday, August 29, as armed soldiers struck the Diori Hamani International Airport, attempted to breach the presidential palace perimeter, and seized positions at several other sensitive sites before security forces moved to push them back.
Niger's Ministry of Defence said the attack began around 1 a.m. and identified Air Base 101, which hosts Russian Africa Corps personnel and some Italian forces, as one of the targeted locations.
Source: Getty Images
According to New York Times, a former Nigerien diplomat, speaking anonymously over fears of government reprisals, said the assailants held the airport for a period and reportedly took Russian mercenaries hostage at the base.
The Conseil National pour la Sauvegarde de la Patrie (CNSP) said the soldiers acted in breach of military discipline, attempting to hold fellow officers hostage at Base 101.
According to FT, Niger's Minister of National Defence, Salifou Moudi, said security forces intervened quickly and were gradually recovering the affected areas. Residents were urged to stay calm.
Who led the attack?
The Defence Ministry said it could not immediately confirm who organised the assault or what their aims were, and no death toll was given in the initial government statement. Analysts noted the scale of the operation pointed to Niger's special forces as a likely source.
Beatrice Bianchi, an adviser for the Sahel-Sahara Security Strategies Centre in Dakar, said presidential guard forces appeared to be gaining the upper hand by early Sunday morning, with many of the soldiers who had barricaded themselves inside Air Base 101 reported killed.
"The situation remains very uncertain and evolving," she said, adding that she would classify the events as a coup attempt rather than a simple mutiny. "There are mutinies in the past. But none got to this level of violence."
Héni Nsaibia, a senior West Africa researcher at the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, was more cautious, saying he preferred to describe it as an effort "to kind of destabilize the regime" rather than a straightforward coup attempt.
A Junta already under pressure
President Abdourahamane Tchiani, who seized power in July 2023 by ousting elected President Mohamed Bazoum, was reported to be inside the presidential palace during the attack, with his presidential guards working to retake the airport.
The unrest follows a difficult period for the junta. Militants from JNIM, an Al Qaeda affiliate, attacked the same airport in June, killing at least 11 soldiers and two civilians.
A separate Islamic State Sahel Province attack struck the facility in January. Nsaibia said the repeated failure to address jihadist threats across Niger's borders with Libya, Nigeria and Burkina Faso had fuelled deep frustration within the military's ranks.
"When a soldier gets killed and doesn't get even the basic honors or acknowledgments, it also creates a lot of nuisance among the rank and file," he said.
Source: Getty Images
Colonel who plotted coup against Tinubu mentions what happened under Buhari's govt
Legit.ng earlier reported that Colonel Mohammed Ma'aji, the army officer at the centre of a failed coup plot against President Bola Tinubu in 2025, has spoken about what drove him toward the idea of overthrowing the government — and his account largely blames the administration that came before Tinubu's.
In remarks quoted by Premium Times, Ma'aji, an infantry officer who served across multiple military formations in Nigeria, said the conditions that radicalised him began deteriorating in the final period of former President Muhammadu Buhari's tenure.
Source: Legit.ng
