At least two people were killed and 18 others were injured in western Niger on Saturday (November 27th), authorities in Niamey said.
Protesters clashed with gendarmes and French Army men, whose convoy was blocked for hours after crossing the border into Burkina Faso.
Some 100 armored vehicles and trucks crossed the border on Friday. They were detained in Burkina Faso for a week by protesters protesting both the French military presence and the authorities’ inability to stem the rising tide of jihadist violence.
Anger over the French military presence has recently escalated in the country’s former African colonies. Paris has deployed thousands of men in the Sahel to confront organizations that swear allegiance to either al Qaeda or Islamic State (IS).
Last weekend, thousands of residents of the town of Kaya in Burkina Faso blocked the passage of a French military convoy departing from Cκτήte d’Ivoire bound for the Gao district of Mali.
After being able to leave Burkina Faso, she was again confronted yesterday morning by protesters, 30 kilometers from the border, in the city of Terra, in western Niger, where she stopped for the night.
“In an attempt to unravel” and get through, the French forces “used force. “Unfortunately, we are mourning the death of two people and we have 18 injuries,” of which “11 are serious,” he said in a press release issued by the Nigerian Interior Ministry, according to the APE-MPE.
“An investigation is being carried out to determine the circumstances of this tragedy and to determine what responsibilities exist,” according to the same source.
A spokesman for the French armed forces, Colonel Pascal Gianni, told Reuters that French soldiers and members of the Nigerian gendarmerie had fired warning shots to repel protesters trying to loot or seize.
He added that he was not able to confirm or deny the information about the victims and that no one from the French mission was injured. He denied the “false news” circulating on social networking sites that the French military had killed “dozens” of protesters in Terra.
The Barhan force convoy was later able to continue on to the capital, Niamey, about 200 kilometers away, according to Col. Yanni.
A video shared by a local official shows protesters – mostly young men – shouting “France down” as black smoke rises from a burning roadblock.
France intervened in Mali in 2013 to repel rebels who had occupied the north before deploying troops across the Sahel. Although its forces have killed several jihadist leaders, the violence continues and spreads.
In a speech to the people on Friday night, Nigerian President Mohamed Bazoum defended the French military presence in the Sahel, stressing that if the French forces withdrew, “chaos” would prevail and expressing his “gratitude” in France for the “sacrifices”.
