Representation of Queen Sarraounia in the 1986 film, Sarraounia, directed by Moroccan filmmaker, Med Hondo.
Niger Republic was rocked by an attempted coup from 29 to 30 August. The plotters invaded the Diori Hamani International Airport, where Air Base 101 is stationed. They also stormed the state broadcaster and the presidential palace.
They were defeated, and the populace took to the streets in protest against the attempt to return France to its position of dominance in the country. France had, in 1898, invaded, destroyed and colonised territories that now constitute Niger Republic. It virtually dictated to that country for 125 years until the 2023 coup led by General Abdourahamane Tiani.
Interestingly, it was in Niger Republic that France met one of the stiffest resistances to its military colonisation of Africa. That resistance, which also exposed one of France’s most bestial expeditions, was led by Queen Sarraounia Mangou, leader, priestess and military commander of the Hausa Azna nation.
Before invading Azna, France had subjugated Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa; Gabon and French Congo in Central Africa; Madagascar and Djibouti in the East; and Mali, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Benin Republic in West Africa. In 1898, it set out on one of its most brutal campaigns to seize the Chad Basin, including Niger.
