Niger's Defence Minister, General Salifou Mody, flew to Algiers on Wednesday and signed a military cooperation protocol with Algeria's army chief, General Saïd Chanegriha. The ceremony took place at the headquarters of the People's National Army. There was a flag salute, national anthems, and military honours .‌

The protocol is not a public document. Neither side disclosed its contents . What Chanegriha said in the room is on the record: the Algerian army is "prepared to consider any Nigerien proposal to advance bilateral cooperation" in line with the two countries' interests . Mody praised the "multidimensional coordination" between the two armies .‌‌

This is not a first step. It is the formalisation of a partnership that has been deepening for months. Algeria sent four Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets and a refuelling tanker to Niamey after the August mutiny. It delivered helicopters and ammunition earlier. Niger's prime minister visited Algiers in August. The two countries share a 950-kilometre border and a common interest in containing the insurgency that has bled the Sahel for a decade.

The significance is not in the protocol's unpublished clauses. It is in who is absent. France has no ambassador in Niamey. French troops were expelled in 2024. The United States has sanctioned Niger. The West is watching from the outside while two African armies sign defence agreements on their own terms .‌

Algeria is not a neutral party. It has its own security interests, its own uranium and gas reserves, and its own rivalry with Morocco. It is not offering charity. It is building a sphere of influence. But it is doing so as an African state, with an African partner, without asking permission from Paris or Washington.

That is the shift. The Sahel's security architecture is no longer designed in Western capitals. It is being built in Algiers, Bamako, Ouagadougou, and Niamey.
#Niger #Algeria

France expelled two Nigerien intelligence officers in September 2026, following a separate dispute involving two Malian officers a year earlier.

The Nigerien officials were assigned to their country’s embassy in Paris and left France after being declared persona non grata.

The incidents highlight the deterioration of France’s intelligence and diplomatic relationships with military-led governments in the Sahel.

#Niger, #Mali and Burkina Faso have increasingly pursued alternative security partnerships, including with #Russia. #Burkinafaso

The Sahel is no longer waiting for others to tell its story. 🇧🇫🇲🇱🇳🇪

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have launched Tafouk TV, the joint television network of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

The channel began broadcasting from Bamako on 16 September 2026 and is designed to strengthen information sovereignty, showcase Sahelian cultures and languages, and provide coverage of the activities of the three AES states.

And this is bigger than just another television station.

For years, the Sahel has largely depended on foreign media organizations to interpret its politics, conflicts, development and transformation for the rest of the world.

Now Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are building their own media infrastructure.

Their own cameras.
Their own journalists.
Their own languages.
Their own platforms.
Their own perspective.

Tafouk TV broadcasts in French and English alongside regional languages including Bambara, Mooré, Fulfulde and Hausa.

This is what information sovereignty looks like in practice.

The AES is not only building cooperation in defence and diplomacy. It is also building institutions capable of communicating directly with its people and the wider world.

The Sahel is learning to speak for itself. And this time, the microphone is in its own hands. 🌍🔥

#BurkinaFaso #Mali #Niger #Sahel

Niger 🇳🇪 built, alongside China 🇨🇳, a hospital that does not run on electricity for its cooling.

It is the Niger General Hospital, on the outskirts of Niamey. A region of the Sahara where the average temperature reaches 35 °C.

Completed 10 years ago, the hospital was constructed in partnership with the Government of Niger and CADI, a prestigious Chinese architecture firm.

The walls use a local method called "Tyrol," made from river sand and white cement, chosen because importing wall materials to Niger, a landlocked country, costs too much money.

The wide pillars act as parasols. The courtyards cool the patient wing through shaded microclimates, and the perforated walls keep the air moving.

Air conditioning only functions where it is necessary, such as operating rooms, laboratories, or pharmacies, nowhere else.

#China #Niger

Niger Declares End to “Injustice” of Uranium Exports: “Our Resources Will Now Be Managed by Us and for Us

In a forceful address to the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Niger’s Prime Minister Lamine Zeine Ali Mahaman delivered a stark message on the country’s natural resources, declaring that decades of unequal uranium trade are over.

“For more than half a century, uranium… Niger’s uranium has lit the cities of Europe. While our cities have remained in darkness. That injustice is now over. It is at an end,” the Prime Minister said.

He added: “Our resources will now be managed by us and for us.”

The remarks form a central part of Niger’s broader assertion of sovereignty under the leadership of President Abdourahamane Tchiani and the Alliance of Sahel States. The Prime Minister stated that Niger has recovered full control of the Société des Mines de l’Aïr (SOMAIR) and will now sell its uranium on the international market in full transparency, while complying with nuclear non-proliferation obligations.

The speech framed the shift as the end of an era in which Niger’s uranium powered Europe while the country itself faced energy shortages and limited development benefits.

Niger emphasised it remains open to partnerships based on equality and mutual interest, but will no longer accept external restrictions on its right to manage and choose buyers for its resources.

Further details from the address are expected as reactions emerge from international partners and markets. #Niger

U.S. just put $414 million behind a uranium mine in Niger two years after getting kicked out. - Washington approved up to $414.2 million in financing for Global Atomic’s Dasa project, the company said. Sources are calling it a quiet win for the U.S. after Niger expelled American forces in 2024.

Dasa is billed as Africa’s highest-grade uranium deposit. Production is aimed for late 2028. Global Atomic owns 80%. Niger owns 20%.

The money isn’t flowing yet. The company still needs an export route for yellowcake, permit extensions, a direct deal with Niamey’s government, and final loan papers.

This comes as Niger fights with France’s Orano and leans on Russian security partners. Uranium is now a U.S. critical mineral, so Washington wants a foothold before someone else takes it.

CEO Stephen Roman went to D.C. this summer to push the deal over the line. Off-take contracts already cover about 11% of the mine plan. Getting the ore out of the country is still the hard part. #USA #Niger

Niger has signed a $1.9 billion deal to build a new oil refinery and petrochemical plant in Dosso. The aim is simple: refine more of its own crude at home, import less fuel, and sell some of it to neighbours in the Sahel. #Niger

The agreement was signed in Niamey on 15 August with Zimar Group and High Tech. The companies are meant to pay for the plant, build it, run it, then hand it to the state. Construction is supposed to take three years. They then operate it for 13 years. The money still has to be raised within 12 months.

The planned plant would process 100,000 barrels a day five times bigger than Niger’s only working refinery at Zinder, which handles 20,000. If it gets built, it would be one of the largest refineries in West Africa, behind Nigeria’s Dangote and Ghana’s Sentuo.

Niger now produces about 110,000 barrels a day, but refines only a fifth of that. The rest goes out as crude, mostly through the pipeline to Benin, and the country buys fuel back. A plant this size could flip that. Officials also talk about supplying Mali and Burkina Faso.

There is a catch. This is a contract, not a finished refinery. The builders still need financing, and some reports say Zimar has little public record of a project this big. A 100,000-barrel plant would also need a lot of Niger’s current crude, most of which is now exported.

If the money comes through, Dosso could become a real energy hub. If it doesn’t, the deal stays on paper.

Guinea Joins Sahel Crackdown: France 24 Banned and Digitally Erased After Presenter Labels Elected President a “Putschist”

The country’s media regulator banned the French news channel from broadcasting anywhere in Guinea and ordered telecoms to block its websites, apps, and streams effective immediately.

The ban covers satellite, cable, mobile apps, websites, and social media. France 24’s license is revoked. All its journalists in the country lost their press credentials.

Why? On September 14 a presenter called President Mamadi Doumbouya a “putschist president.” The regulator warned the channel the next day and told it to take the clip down everywhere. France 24 admitted the mistake and said it would apologize. The regulator says the video was still online Thursday morning, so they banned the channel outright.

Doumbouya took power in a 2021 coup and won an election last December with no real opposition. Guinea has shut down other media before. France 24 has already been banned in #Mali, #Burkina Faso, and #Niger.

They also pulled the accreditation of a Jeune Afrique correspondent this week.
#Guinea #Mali #Niger #Burkinafaso