AFRICAFE: Niger's Coup Unveiled: Security, Powers, and Perspectives

September 21, 2023

In this episode, we will unravel the complex factors behind the coup in Niger with Rida Lyammouri, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, in which he dissects the political, social, and economic aspects that led to this crisis to provide a thorough understanding of the situation. Additionally, Mr. Lyammouri explains the broader security consquences of this turmoil in the Sahel region for West and Central Africa, while delving into the involvement of major global powers and how their interests shape the Niger crisis, shedding light on its significance and implications.

Speakers
Rida Lyammouri
Senior Fellow
Rida Lyammouri is a senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS). He is also a senior West Africa and Lake Chad Basin researcher and advisor, with expertise in regional conflicts, violent extremism, climate change, migration, and trafficking. His research activities focus on geopolitics and international relations in the West African Sahel and Lake Chad Basin, regions he has worked on for 14 years, including in the field. He has extensive experience supporting both governmental and non-governmental organizations in the areas of international development, security, countering violent extremism and terrorism, preventing conflicts, ensuring humanitarian access, and migration. Mr. Lyammouri has contributed to in-depth research and analysis reports aiming at building ...
Hamza Mjahed
International Relations Specialist - Strategic Monitoring & Analysis Unit
Hamza Mjahed is an International Relations Specialist at the Strategic Monitoring and Analysis Unit at the Policy Center for the New South. His research focus on the Western Maghreb and examining the relationships between non-African states and the African continent. Hamza Mjahed holds an excellence license degree in political science from Mohammed V University, Morocco, and a Master of Arts from Hochschule Furtwangen University, Germany. He is currently pursuing an MSc in the Geopolitics and Geo-economics of Emerging Africa from HEC Paris and Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. ...

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    Niccola Milnes
    July 21, 2026
    Armed-group drone use in the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin has scaled from rudimentary commercial-quadcopter Improvised Explosive Device (IED) drops in 2023 to a capability set that now includes First-Person View (FPV) strikes with shapedcharge anti-armor warheads, fiber-optic FPVs that defeat radio-frequency jamming, coordinated drone-and-ground assaults on hardened airfields, and a 25-drone non-state swarm. Four groups—Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the Azawad Liberation ...
  • July 3, 2026
    This episode explores Russia’s growing influence in Africa through media, information warfare, and anti-Western narratives. It examines how Moscow uses historical ties, social media, local influencers, and security partnerships to shape perceptions, while questioning the real scope and ...
  • June 26, 2026
    Three years after the adoption of the first National Action Plan (NAP) on the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, Morocco has made real institutional progress, but implementation is still inadequate. The extension of the NAP opens a window of opportunity to prepare a second, more ambitious and operational cycle.This Policy Brief identifies four persistent obstacles: a virtually stagnant female employment rate of 19.1%, less than 3% female representation in peacekeeping contingen ...
  • Authors
    Sous la direction de
    June 23, 2026
    L’Afrique atlantique émerge aujourd’hui comme un espace de réflexion stratégique majeur. Longtemps envisagée sous l’angle de sa fragmentation ou de sa marginalité relative dans les grands récits géopolitiques, cette façade maritime tend désormais à être appréhendée comme un ensemble en devenir, structuré par des dynamiques géopolitiques, économiques et sécuritaires de plus en plus intenses. C’est dans cette perspective qu’a été initié le Africa Maritime Symposium (AMS), dont la ...
  • Authors
    June 18, 2026
    La Marche Verte ne peut être perçue seulement comme un événement daté, historiquement situé, une action accomplie et achevée. L’événement n’a pas fini d’apparaitre comme un processus aux prolongements très variés, aux conséquences multiples, étalés sur le temps et déployant leurs effets jusqu'à aujourd’hui. ...
  • Authors
    Sous la direction de
    June 10, 2026
    Le rapport annuel sur la géopolitique de l’Afrique est cette année à sa dixième édition, cela fait donc dix ans que le Policy Center for the New South consacre à l’Afrique une tribune par laquelle les africains tentent de récupérer le narratif sur leur continent. Ce chiffre 10 n'est pas anodin : il marque la maturité d'un projet éditorial fondé sur une conviction simple mais exigeante : l'Afrique doit se penser elle-même, depuis elle-même, avec les instruments analytiques ...
  • June 10, 2026
    L’édition 2026 du Rapport annuel sur la Géopolitique de l’Afrique (RAGA) du Policy Center for the New South analyse un continent africain saisi par une double transformation : celle du système international, plus fragmenté, plus conflictuel et plus transactionnel ; et celle des environn...
  • Authors
    June 8, 2026
    The energy shock caused by the war between the United States and Israel and Iran has highlighted the need for Africa to refine more of its own crude oil. Africa is a net hydrocarbon exporter, but remains stuck in the old colonial economic model: it mostly exports raw materials and imports refined products. Africa exports about 2.6 billion barrels of crude oil every year, and imports about 1.4 billion barrels of refined products. This is a problem for two reasons. First, Africa ...
  • June 5, 2026
    Driven by its mission to reflect on and analyze the major geopolitical, economic, and societal transformations shaping the contemporary world, and with a view to contributing to knowledge-sharing and disseminating the main outcomes of its research program, the Policy Center for the New South regularly publishes collective volumes addressing issues of particular importance to Morocco, Africa, and the broader Global/New South. In this spirit, the Center has recently released two volum ...