Created in particular to oppose the redeployment in Niger of French troops from Barkhane after their departure from Mali, the M62 has called on the population to demonstrate in the streets since the coup.
He wants to condition “any evacuation of Europeans on the immediate departure of foreign military forces”. While France began this Tuesday to evacuate its civilian nationals from Niger after the coup, the M62 movement calls for the closure of borders “except for friendly countries”.
In a press release, he denounces an “urgent evacuation attempt” which testifies “to the real intentions of France to intervene in Niger militarily to protect its interests, even if it is necessary to kill thousands of Nigeriens”.
This movement, which brings together civil society organizations, seems to have been revitalized by the overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum on July 26.
Support for the coup
M62 militants were among the first to support the coup led by General Abdourahamane Tiani. The next day, in a press release published on social networks, they explain that they have “the hope that this coup will be the last opportunity to repair the excesses of the fallen regime and restore the dignity of the Nigerien people”.
It is also this movement that launched the call to demonstrate on Sunday in Niamey. While the putschists are brandishing the threat of a “plan of aggression” prepared by Westerners and other African countries, the M62 is busy blocking “against foreign military intervention” by going out massively into the streets.
If the march was to end in front of the country’s parliament, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the French embassy in the Nigerien capital. Some held up placards reading “Release France”, “France is killing Niger” or “Down with France, long live Russia”, while the crowd chanted similar slogans.
Against the French presence in Niger
The civil movement M62 was born on this background of contestation of the French presence, and Western more generally, in the country. From its full name, “M62: sacred union for the safeguard of the sovereignty and the dignity of the people” was formed in August 2022 to denounce inflation, the cost of living, the security crisis but also the presence of the French army in Niger.
The creation of the movement – a coalition of activists, civil society movements and trade unions – comes at the end of Operation Barkhane, led by France in the Sahel. After being ordered to leave Mali, the French soldiers were partly redeployed to Niger.
“While in Burkina Faso and Mali, the authorities preferred to be under the supervision of France”, denounces M62 in its press release published after the putsch.
The name of the movement also refers to the 62nd anniversary of the proclamation of Niger’s independence.
Calls to demonstrate
After its birth, M62 organized several demonstrations to protest against the presence of French forces on Nigerien soil, many of which were banned or repressed.
Last January, the leader of the Abdoulaye Seydou movement was placed in preventive detention for “complicity in arson” on a gold panning site, in connection with a terrorist attack which took place in October 2022.
A few months later, in April, he was sentenced to a nine-month prison term for “disseminating data likely to disturb public order”, after denouncing the Nigerien army’s blunders against civilians during of a military operation.
Following the coup, the movement directly demanded, among other things, the release of Abdoulaye Seydou.
Niger: why this hostility against France?
New mobilization Thursday
As the BBC notes, somewhat unusually, members of M62 have been quoted by state television as calling for mass demonstrations in support of the putschists and denouncing the sanctions imposed by West African leaders on the aftermath of the coup.
However, it is difficult to confirm that the group is directly linked to the junta, known as the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Fatherland (CNSP), or to Russia, while many pro-Russian slogans and flags are observable during the demonstrations, notes the British channel.
The M62 movement calls for a new march this Thursday, August 3 to denounce the “despicable sanctions” of other African countries including ECOWAS, demand the immediate departure of “hostile foreign forces and the French ambassador to Niger”. It “calls on the population of Niamey for a general mobilization every day until the final departure of the foreign military forces from the territory of Niger”. Its slogan: “homeland or death, we will win”.
