In the Sahel, the same scenes seem to play out from one country to the next: Thousands of civilians chant slogans under the windows of French embassies or at the gates of French military bases, criticizing France's "neo-colonialism" and demanding the departure of French troops stationed on their land. First it was Bamako and Ouagadougou. Then Niamey, after the July 26 coup d'état. Could N'Djamena or Dakar be next? It's tempting to draw parallels between these countries' situations. Their common characteristic: They are in what used to be known as France's "private turf" in Africa, defined by its former colonies – where the former colonizer is no longer welcome.

To date, Paris's decades-long self-proclaimed rebuilding of relations with the African continent has yielded mixed results. Weighed down by a colonial past that France has struggled to acknowledge, slowed by the years that followed African independence in the early 1960s and scarred by "Françafrique" – a period of connivance and interference with illegitimate regimes – French politicians, diplomats and military personnel are now destabilized. They're torn between the memory of a bygone power and their lack of understanding of changing African societies that have been shaped by new political and religious forces, for whom France is a convenient scapegoat.

A tried and tested formula

An entire generation is lambasting France as an economic predator and as a missionary of Western values reviled by orthodox and radical Islamic groups. While these radical Islamic groups are not necessarily jihadist, they reject the political and social model adopted by African countries since independence and feed on their weaknesses and economic failures.

As soon as the Niger junta took power on July 26, following the tried-and-tested formula of previous coups in the Sahel (like Mali in August 2020 and Burkina Faso in January 2022), it decided to break off from its ally in the fight against armed groups operating in Islamic State- or Al-Qaeda-linked organizations. The defense agreements between the two countries and other treaties concerning the 1,500 or so French soldiers deployed in Niger were criticized, and Niamey demanded the army's immediate departure. The French ambassador was declared persona non grata. Radio France Internationale (RFI) and TV channel France 24, both considered the "voice of France," were suspended.

France's presence in the Sahel and Sahara

France's presence increasingly unwelcome in countries that have had coups d'état

Russia and China advance their pawns in the region

Sources: Acled; ICG; Diploweb.com; Rhipto; IMF; Hérodote n° 172, La Découverte, 2019; French Armed Forces Ministry; Africa Center for Strategic Studies; C. Grataloup, P. Boucheron, Atlas historique mondial, Les Arènes, 2019; USGS
Le Monde infogrpahic: Julie Cassotti, Francesca Fattori, Véronique Malécot and Delphine Papin

For now, Paris is digging in its heels. In its eyes, there is only one legitimate authority in Niamey: Mohamed Bazoum, who was elected in early 2021 after a democratic presidential election. In Niger, "our policy is simple," said President Emmanuel Macron on August 28 at the annual ambassadors' conference at the Elysée Palace: "We do not recognize the leaders of the coup. We support a president who has not resigned and we remain by his side. We support a diplomatic or military solution from ECOWAS [Economic Community of West African States] when it decides on one." The junta's actions are considered illegal and therefore inadmissible.

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