Old video of soldiers shows Wagner fighters in Mali, not Niger

"First images of Wagner Forces in Niger are out. France had initially threatened to flatten Niger after they were denied access to uranium and gold. Vladimir Putin is not joking around with the West," reads a post published on X, formerly Twitter, on August 3, 2023.

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A screenshot of the false post, taken on August 14, 2023

The post includes a one-minute video that features a news anchor, a guest, and photographs of fighters dressed in military fatigues. "Don’t send your sons to Niger," reads the video caption, which covers part of what looks like a blue logo.

The anchor identifies his guest as France 24’s senior correspondent Cyril Payen. France 24 is a state-owned international broadcaster based in Paris.

Niger was thrown into crisis after a group of soldiers, led by the former commander of the presidential guards General Abdourahamane Tiani deposed and detained democratically-elected president Mohamed Bazoum on July 26, 2023 (archived here).

Bazoum has since been accused of "high treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger" (archived here).

In response to the coup, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demanded Bazoum be reinstated within seven days (archived here) from July 30, 2023.

ECOWAS nations resolved to explore "all measures" including "the use of force" if constitutional authority was not restored before the ultimatum expired on August 6, 2023.

While France backed the regional bloc’s plans to restore Bazoum (archived here), Russia said using force to address the political crisis could destabilise Niger and the Sahara-Sahel region (archived here).

But the claim that the video shows Wagner mercenaries in Niger is false.

Wagner in Mali

AFP Fact Check traced the video to a TikTok account called "gaia33x". The name appears on the left side of the clip.

The TikTok footage – which makes the same claim about Wagner troops in Niger – was posted on August 3, 2023, with the caption "ECOWAS and their chicken forces".

At the beginning of the video on TikTok, the anchor says a France 24 source provided the photos used in the clip.

A keyword search for "France 24 Wagner" led to a longer version of the footage published on YouTube on January 10, 2022, by the French broadcaster (archived here).

The caption of the video explains that it shows Wagner operatives in Segou, a town about 235 kilometres northeast of Bamako, the capital city of Mali.

Formed in Russia, Wagner is a private army (archived here) involved in conflicts in parts of Africa and the Middle East (archived here). The armed group was also involved in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The news ticker was covered by the green text box in the edited video that falsely linked the images to Niger. Part of the blue France 24 logo was also obscured.

However, other matching elements show the false posts used the footage from France 24’s Mali report.

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Screenshots show similarities between the video in the false claim, top, and the one published by France 24, taken on August 14, 2023

Malian junta

There is no mention of Niger in the video published by France 24, although the news anchor says the Wagner fighters seen in the video were "hired by the junta".

AFP reported on January 7, 2022, that Malian army officials admitted to having about 400 hundred Russian military personnel in the West African country (archived here).

Like Niger, Mali’s government was ousted in a coup. A band of rebel soldiers toppled the country’s democratically-elected leader, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, on August 18, 2020 (archived here).

The putschists initially appointed Bah N’Daw and Moctar Ouane as interim president and prime minister respectively to oversee a transition period (archived here).

The two men were, however, sacked on May 25, 2021, and army colonel Assimi Goita – who led the coup – was named interim president in May 2021.