Nigerien presidential chief of staff Gen. Amadou Ibro has called on his countrymen to prepare for “war with France,” citing Paris’s attempts to destabilize the West African nation.

France “wants to bring us back at any cost,” Ibro said, accusing Paris of building its prosperity on the back of its neocolonial relationship with Niger, and suffering a deteriorating economic picture without its resources.

👉 Uranium is at the heart of the dispute.

A 1k ton shipment of Nigerien yellowcake has been stuck at Niamey’s airport since December. Orano, the French state-owned nuclear fuel cycle giant whose massive SOMAIR mine was nationalized in 2025, has threatened action against “anyone who tries to get their hands” on the yellowcake.

In January, the airport and a nearby military base were attacked by ISIS Sahel. President Tchiani immediately blamed France and its regional allies Benin and Cote d’Ivoire.

Just how much is 1k tons of yellowcake?

➡️ Enough to make 100-120 tons of low-enriched uranium, and power up to 14M French homes for a year. France gets ~70% of its electricity from nuclear, and before the 2023 coup relied on Niger for 20% of its uranium.

➡️ Enough for 100 or more nuclear warheads (Niger accounted for 100% of the French military’s needs before 2023).

➡️ Niger’s Imouraren mine alone has ~200k tons of uranium.

Niger now plans to sell its uranium on the international market.

🔴 It’s also threatened to end the ‘symbiotic’ (host and parasite) relationship with France via the CFA franc currency mechanism, which allows Paris to suck out ‘former’ colonies’ resources, and sell French finished goods back to them, keeping these nations underdeveloped.

🔴 In 2021, France paid Niger $50-60 per kg of uranium ore. Fast forward to 2026: uranium’s spot price is $194-218 per kg. Niger can produce and export less uranium concentrate and make more money without France.

🔴 And the less mining, the better. France’s mining activities have caused untold environmental damage (~20M tons of radioactive waste rock dumped in open air, impacting >100k people).

🔴 Having disengaged with Paris and kicked out French and US troops, post-coup Niger has turned to its BRICS friends, especially Russia, for security and its new economic future.

🔴 Tchiani explicitly thanked “Russian partners” for help repelling the January ISIS airport attack.

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