It means fighting jihadi groups under difficult conditions and at considerable personal risk for little pay, said Sahel expert Abdoulaye Sounaye, a professor at the Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient research institution in Berlin. In an exclusive interview with DW, he described the hard conditions facing Nigerien soldiers: "The vast majority earn less than 150 euros a month, and many have to support six, seven or more family members on that monthly salary." "This naturally contributes to discontent within Niger's armed forces," he adds, hinting at some of the motivation behind the increasing levels of discontent among soldiers. At the same time, military personnel are expected to follow a strict military leadership which only came to power through a coup.
At the top of this junta sits General Abdourahamane Tiani, the erstwhile commander of the presidential guard prior to the military takeover in 2023. Tiani ousted democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, with his junta largely justifying its rule by invoking the ongoing fight against jihadist violence in the country, which it claims the Bazoum administration had failed to sufficiently address. But the failed uprising in Niamey puts that claim to the test amid growing frustration within the military over the unending battle against Islamist insurgencies.
On the weekend, parts of the army temporarily took control of Air Base 101 at Niamey's international airport, and attempted to advance toward the Presidential Palace and Niger's state broadcaster. The government has described the incident as a mutiny. But Senegalese governance expert Pape Ibrahima Kane told DW in an exclusive interview that "this was not just a mutiny, but an attempted coup.
If this is not an attempted coup, then what does an attempted coup look like?" Niger's military has been fighting jihadist groups for years without managing to contain the violence. The capital Niamey itself has come under attack several times this year alone. For soldiers, this means that they're exposed to high risks daily, compounded by serious problems with equipment, supplies and logistics.
Kane describes an army struggling to move its troops and equipment across the country's vast territory. Whether the government has the financial resources to address these shortcomings meanwhile remains an open question. There also appears to be growing frustration over military pay and work conditions.
Sahel expert Mamadou Mouth Bane sees the possible preferential treatment of the presidential guard over frontline units as one factor behind the discontent that resulted in the uprising. "The men who are at the front are being neglected. They feel forgotten and treated worse" than the presidential units, Bane explained in a DW interview, highlighting that the junta cannot afford to alienate these soldiers.
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