French Troops in Niger Fire Warning Shots to Disperse Crowd

(Bloomberg) -- French soldiers who are part of a military convoy traveling from Burkina Faso in West Africa to Mali fired warning shots on Saturday to disperse a crowd that confronted them during a stopover in Niger.

Two people were killed and 18 injured when the convoy, escorted by military police, tried to leave, Nigerien authorities said in an emailed statement late Saturday. It wasn’t immediately clear who injured the protesters. An investigation is underway, according to the government statement. 

A French army spokesman wasn’t immediately available for comment.

The French vehicles were in the village of Tera, about 180 kilometers (112 miles) northwest of the capital, Niamey, when they encountered an angry crowd, according to Pascal Ianni, an army spokesman. The protesters attempted to raid the convoy, Ianni said by phone from Paris. 

France has about 5,000 troops as part of a counter-terrorism force known as Barkhane in five West African countries -- Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Chad. It’s been facing growing opposition in the region and protesters took to the streets of the Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, on Saturday, calling for the French troops to leave.

President Emmanuel Macron earlier this year said France would scale down its military presence in the Sahel region to about 2,500 troops by 2022. 

The convoy that was attacked on Saturday is heading to Gao in eastern Mali, where France maintains a presence. Its progress had already been delayed by protesters in Burkina Faso, where protesters blocked a road before soldiers fired shots to disperse them.

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