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At least 18 others have been injured in a convoy heading to Mali after problems in Teran, the local mayor says.
A French military convoy bound for Mali on Saturday had more problems after being in a Nigerian town delayed In protests in Burkina Faso for more than a week, its mayor reported three dead and 18 injured.
The supply convoy that arrived in Côte d’Ivoire last week crossed Burkina Faso and on Friday entered Niger on its way to central Mali.
Its destination is a Gao base, the focal point of Operation Barkhane in France, which supports allies in the Sahel region in the fight against armed groups that began almost a decade ago in northern Mali.
But clashes erupted in Tera in western Niger on Saturday, and the mayor said “three people were killed and 18 injured”, including four who had to be evacuated 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the capital Niamey.
He said the French army was in contact with Nigerian authorities, but that “at this stage it was not in a position to confirm that toll”.
“No French soldiers were injured,” French army spokesman Pascal Ianni told AFP news agency. But “two civilian drivers in the convoy were injured by stones and damaged some civilian trucks.”
“The convoy stopped last night in Teran. This morning, as they tried to follow the road to Niamey, 1,000 protesters stopped and a violent group among them tried to take the trucks, ”he said.
Nigerian gendarmes fired tear gas to disperse protesters, he added.
Later in the middle of the morning, “tensions rose again” and French gendarmes and soldiers “fired warning shots,” Ianni said before moving a convoy of more than 100 vehicles.
He denied the “false information” spread on social media that the French army had killed dozens of civilians in Teran.
After entering Burkina Faso last week, protesters slowed the convoy to the second largest city in the country, Bobo-Dioulasso, and then to the capital, Ouagadougou.
On November 19, thousands of protesters blocked the convoy in Kayan, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Ouagadougou.
The next day, local sources said four people had been shot and wounded in Kayan, in an unclear situation: French and Burkinabe soldiers fired warning shots and fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Organizers of the protest said they wanted to expose the flaws in the security agreements with Burkina Faso, a former French colonial authority.
But rumors have also spread on social media – told by Cayman protesters – that the convoy was carrying weapons for rebel fighters.
Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Alpha Barry dismissed the rumors on Wednesday and said it had a long history of aid from France in times of crisis.
On Friday, Niger President Mohamed Bazoum expressed his “thanks” to France and applauded the “sacrifices” made in the Sahel.
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