For over a month, they were parked in a corner of Air Base 101, the military zone of Niamey airport. The 34 trucks – each carrying two containers – formed a visible row in satellite imagery. Their cargo? Roughly 1,000 metric tons of “yellowcake” (uranium concentrate) produced at the Arlit mine in northern Niger by the French nuclear group Orano, before the company was forced out by the junta led by General Abdourahamane Tiani, who came to power in a July 2023 coup.
In early November, several French government sources told Le Monde that they were concerned that Russia could acquire this uranium stockpile and, above all, about the risks of transporting it by road through regions controlled by jihadist groups. According to these sources, Nigerien authorities and the Russian nuclear giant Rosatom had just reached a deal for 1,000 metric tons of yellowcake – out of the 1,400 stored in Arlit – for a price of $170 million (€145 million). Both parties denied the transaction.
French sources said the uranium was intended for transport to the port of Lomé, Togo, and then shipped by sea to Russia. The route is perilous, passing through western Niger and then northern and eastern Burkina Faso, where the risk of ambushes by jihadists from Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM, the Sahelian branch of al-Qaeda) or the Islamic State group in the Sahel is high.
In October, Nigerien military officials, customs officers and intelligence services held discussions with some of their Burkinabe and Togolese counterparts to plan security for the convoy.