'Outside interests' driving anti-France protests in Niger, says deposed PM
Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou, who was removed as prime minister of Niger when military officers seized power last week, told RFI and France24 that external forces are seeking to stir up opposition to France, after protesters outside the French embassy were seen waving Russian flags.
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"These protests are organised by groups of activists. They want to cause trouble – they're troublemakers whose motives do not necessarily have the support of the people of Niger. Their motives are steered by outside interests," Mahamadou said on Sunday night in interviews with RFI and its sister TV station France24.
Hours earlier, protesters set fire to a door of the French embassy in Niger's capital, Niamey, before being dispersed by the army.
Thousands of people took to the streets in support of the coup leaders, many also denouncing France – Niger's former coloniser – and some hailing Russia instead.
Mahamadou, who along with President Mohamed Bazoum has been replaced by a military council, said he was sorry to see protesters carrying foreign flags, without naming Russia.
"If their aim is to get other foreign countries to come [to Niger], they may attack France's interests based on their own agenda, not based on the agenda of the Nigerien people," he said.
"On France and every other country that intervenes on security matters in Niger, the public has spoken through their parliament."
Opening for Wagner?
Under Bazoum, Niger agreed to host some 1,500 French troops to continue fighting jihadists in the Sahel after other countries in the region ended their cooperation with France.
In both Mali and Burkina Faso, military takeovers in 2021 and 2022 respectively were followed by a rejection of the West in general, and former colonial power France in particular.
Since then, Mali's military government has hired Wagner mercenaries to back up its forces, making it one of several African countries to turn to the Russian paramilitary group.
Wagner, which has close ties to the Russian government, has been accused of running a propaganda campaign in Africa aimed at stoking opposition to France.
Following the coup in Niger, the head of Wagner reportedly welcomed the overthrow as a blow against the country's "colonisers".
"What happened in Niger is nothing other than the struggle of the people of Niger with their colonisers. With colonisers who are trying to foist their rules of life on them and their conditions and keep them in the state that Africa was in hundreds of years ago," Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin purportedly said in a voice message released last week on social media channels associated with the group.
"Today this is effectively gaining their independence. The rest will without doubt depend on the citizens of Niger and how effective governance will be, but the main thing is this: they have got rid of the colonisers."
Officially, Russia's government has expressed concern over the coup in Niger and called for constitutional order to be restored as soon as possible.
Coup leaders accuse France
President Emmanuel Macron's office has said that attacks on France and its interests will not be tolerated and attacks on French nationals will draw a swift response.
Meanwhile the coup leaders have accused France of seeking to launch a military intervention in Niger.
In a statement read on state television on Monday, a military officer claimed that France was conspiring with the toppled government to launch an operation to free Bazoum, who is being detained at the presidential palace by his former guards.
Separately, the junta also accused the security services of an unnamed Western embassy of firing teargas on the demonstrators in Niamey on Sunday, French news agency AFP reports.
Fragile economy
Commenting on the protest, Mahamadou told RFI that "Niamey is not Niger".
He insisted that other Nigeriens want to see the situation resolved and especially to avoid international sanctions, which risk hitting the economy hard.
The West African bloc Ecowas has declared a no-fly zone over Niger, the closure of all land borders, a halt to financial transactions and the freezing of national assets.
"Niger is a landlocked country. So when there's an embargo, with the closure of ground and air borders, it's extremely hard on the population. And when that's accompanied by financial sanctions, in a country where the financial situation is already fragile, you can imagine the disaster that could result from this situation," said Mahamadou.
France has also suspended all development aid and budgetary support to Niger, following similar measures by both the EU and the US.
"Niger depends a lot on the international community," Mahamadou said, warning that without funds from its partners Niger would struggle to deliver its policies.
The prime minister, who was not in Niger when the president was seized, also said that Bazoum was "doing well".
"He's a fighter... He really hopes things will go in the right direction," Mahamadou said.
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