Following the July 26 military coup in Niger, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) issued an ultimatum demanding a return to constitutional order. After the ultimatum expired on the evening of August 6, Nigeriens feared an imminent military intervention. In this context, several misleading videos began to circulate online, claiming that foreign troops had been sent to Niger – despite the fact that there have been no signs of military action.
If you only have a minute
- As the West African ultimatum demanding a return to constitutional order in Niger under threat of the use of "force" came to an end Sunday night, ECOWAS has to decide whether or not to intervene militarily. But several false videos shared online claimed to show this intervention was already underway.
- A first video purports to show a Russian plane delivering arms to the junta. But the video dates from 2006 and was filmed in Sudan.
- A second video claims to show the Algerian army deployed in Niger. But these images were taken during a military parade in Algiers in 2022.
- Others online claimed that the Nigerian army deployed its forces near the border with Niger. But that's false: the video was taken before the coup.
- At present, there have been no signs of an imminent attack against the coup plotters in Niger.
The fact-check, in detail
"A Russian cargo plane has reportedly been spotted landing in Niger's capital," claims this Twitter account, sharing a video of a white transport plane flying over buildings. The video has accumulated 39,000 views on Twitter and over 4,800 views on Facebook since August 5.
However, Niger has requested help from Russian Wagner mercenaries on August 2. According to several OSINT (Open-source intelligence) experts, a Wagner team is expected or already on site, but their presence in Niger has not yet been officially confirmed.
A video taken in Sudan in 2006
But this video certainly doesn't show Russian interference in Niger. We carried out a reverse image search (click here to find out how) to find the source. The original video shows an Ilyushin Il-76, a Russian military transport plane, flying over Sudan's capital Khartoum in 2006. The scene, there, has nothing to do with the current conflict in Niger.
A video of a military parade in Algiers in 2022
Other accounts claim that the Algerian army has already sent a contingent of soldiers to Niger as a response to the coup. As proof, they share a video of a dozen tanks moving slowly along a tarmac road. The video, posted on Facebook and Twitter on August 6, has more than 3,000 views.
But there is writing on the side of the vehicles which says "60 years" and "Independence Day" in Arabic.
We searched for images of the military parade celebrating Algeria's 60 years of independence which took place on July 5, 2022 on the Promenade de Sablettes in Algiers. This allowed us to match up several features in the videos, such as an electrical tower and a road sign, revealing the location where this video was actually filmed.
The video does not show an Algerian army contingent in Niger, but a military parade in Algiers in 2022.
On August 5, Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf reiterated that Algeria refuses to intervene militarily in Niger at present.
Images of the Nigerian army predate the coup
Another video, shared on Twitter since August 4, purports to show the Nigerian air force deploying on the border between Nigeria and Niger in preparation for a possible intervention. In the video, at least eight military vehicles and at least a dozen soldiers can be seen waiting in line in a parking lot.
We searched for the keywords "air force" and "Nigeria" on TikTok and found the original video, which was published on July 23, three days before the coup.
This Tik Tok channel, which regularly publishes videos about the Nigerian army, gives no further information about the context of the video.
But there's no doubt that the video doesn't show Nigerian troops deployed in response to the coup.
In Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu has asked for authorisation to deploy troops in Niger. However, the Nigerian Senate has rejected the request and advised the president and other ECOWAS leaders to seek a political solution to the crisis.
The FRANCE 24 Observers team has debunked other examples of false information that have been circulating in the aftermath of the coup in Niger.
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ECOWAS will meet at a summit on Thursday in Abuja, Nigeria in order to discuss possible reactions to the coup in Niger.
