ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Niger’s capital of Niamey on Sunday appeared calm with normalcy restored after a day of unrest as young soldiers staged a mutiny that threatened the ruling military junta before being repelled by loyalist forces aided by Russian troops.
In what was seen as a major threat to the junta in power since a 2023 coup, the soldiers engaged loyalist forces in sustained gunfire overnight from Friday till late Saturday. Most of the clashes took place at Niamey’s main airport that houses the military air base and in a district where the presidential palace is located.
The unrest culminated in the arrest or killing of dozens of soldiers who were paraded in front of the cameras live on state television. The fate of the mutineers was not immediately clear and authorities did not disclose any charges against them.
On Sunday, military trucks and check points were seen across the city, particularly along major roads between the airport and the presidential district. Junta leader Abdourahamane Tchiani was yet to make any public comments or appearance.
Here’s what we know about the mutiny, according to witnesses, analysts and diplomats:
Nigeriens were awoken around midnight on Friday into Saturday by bursts of gunfire and explosions that started at the Diori Hamani International Airport. The airport is a strategic hub that hosts a key military air base, known as Base 101, as well as the headquarters of Russia’s Africa Corps in the country. It was the third time this year the airport has experienced unrest.
Gunshots were also heard near the presidential palace in the Plateau district of Niamey as a group of soldiers confronted forces loyal to the junta.
Niger’s Defense Ministry said its forces were gradually regaining control of the situation after a group of soldiers took their “comrades” hostage at the air base and fired at “sensitive” sites, without specifying cause of the unrest.
The chaos persisted for hours late into Saturday as the presidential guard and other loyalist forces secured the air base and the presidency, analysts and diplomats said.
Some of the mutineers came from hot spots in the south and west, among the areas worst-hit by jihadi violence, and were rallying support from others stationed outside the city, according to one European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak publicly about the matter.
The unrest appeared to have been triggered by grievances over rising insecurity, including rampant jihadi attacks that have led to the mass killing of soldiers in the last year.
Deadly attacks are “becoming commonplace (in the country) and will continue to fuel unrest and aggravate tensions within the army ranks,” said Héni Nsaibia, senior West Africa analyst at Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a conflict monitor.
Jihadi violence has worsened in the wider Sahel region, including in neighboring Burkina Faso and Mali, where the military also seized power from civilian governments. The junta in Niger promised to stabilize the country but instead security has deteriorated. Attacks on military positions have increased, including one about a week ago when at least 18 soldiers were reportedly killed in the southern Dosso region.
Far below the expectations that followed their forceful takeover of power from their barracks, the junta led Niger into a “critical security situation” fueling discontent and the mutiny was led by soldiers mostly deployed on the ground against the jihadis, according to Wassim Nasr, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a New York-based think tank.
“Deteriorating insecurity drove the coups that swept across the central Sahel, and the latest events show how these same pressures are now fueling unrest within the militaries that seized power,” said Nsaibia.
The mutineers remained camped at the military base within the airport complex for several hours, resisting efforts from loyalist forces, until Russia’s Africa Corps intervened with ground and aerial support, several analysts said.
The Africa Corps is believed to have between 200 to 300 personnel in Niger where it is primarily protecting the junta and its interests, and also supporting the fight against jihadis.
In interviews broadcast on Russian media, Moscow’s ambassador to Niger, Viktor Voropayev, said Niger had requested support from the Russian force and the mutineers were “neutralized particularly thanks to the intervention” of Africa Corps.
The mutineers outnumbered the elite presidential guard that was deployed to retake the air base and it was unclear who was in control until the Russians intervened, according to Nasr, from the Soufan Center.
“At the end of the day, it is easier to go full-blown on repression when it’s a foreign force,” Nasr said.
The regional Alliance of Sahel States (AES) that includes Burkina Faso and Mali issued a statement late Saturday expressing its “full support” to Niger and condemning the “betrayal” from the soldiers.
“Thanks to the bravery and professionalism of the loyalist republican forces, this latest attempt was contained and thwarted,” it said
Algeria, the first country on Saturday to express support for Niger, its southeastern neighbor, assured it of its “full solidarity and firm support.”
Turkey, another key ally of Niger, expressed solidarity with the country and its people, called for “restraint” for the preservation of the country’s security and stability.
FILE - Motorcyclists ride by the entrance of the airport in Niamey, Niger, Aug. 8, 2023. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
A view of a street in Niamey, Niger, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. (AP Photo)
FILE - A view of a street in Niamey, Niger, Wednesday, July. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Hama, FIle)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Besides a social media post from President Donald Trump, the White House has said little about what he is calling “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY” in Venezuela.
Trump said the agreement announced Friday night would give the United States a stake in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, a step toward his goal of extracting energy from the country after American forces captured then-President Nicolás Maduro in a middle-of-the-night raid in January and brought him to New York to face federal drug trafficking charges.
Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, described the deal as a step toward economic recovery that will modernize the country’s oil industry. In a televised address to the nation late Sunday, Rodríguez insisted Venezuela's sovereignty is secure and said she wants the country to become a global energy powerhouse.
Earlier on Saturday, she said the oil reserves would “cease to be an inert, cold statistic and will instead become concrete solutions. Housing is one of them.”
But the answers to many questions, including how soon the reserves could be drilled and who will pay to make it happen, were not immediately clear. No text of any agreement has been released.
A look at what is known and unknown:
The U.S. government and an unnamed private operator in Venezuela formed a new company that was given the rights to untapped oil fields for 100 years.
A statement from Rodríguez said the deal involves the development of 17 fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels. It said the agreement could draw $100 billion in investment into Venezuela’s oil industry and yield over $209 billion in taxes for Caracas.
Trump said the agreement was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Rodríguez.
The deal gives the United States 55% effective output of the new private company, including an ownership stake and rights to buy oil at cost. American purchases of the oil will go toward the U.S. strategic oil reserves along with the military, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The company would be the second largest corporate holder of proven reserves after Saudi Aramco, according to the official.
Probably not any time soon.
Trump says the deal will help lower gas prices for Americans. That is an important objective for the Republican president as the Iran war slows the shipping of Persian Gulf oil and keeps prices elevated months before November elections in the United States.
But experts have repeatedly warned that Venezuela’s dilapidated oil infrastructure will take years and billions of dollars to repair. A substantial boost in production is not expected to happen quickly.
The deal could be “helpful in the long run, but it’s not going to do anything to change the price of gasoline at the retail station for Labor Day weekend,” said Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the Energy, Climate Justice and Sustainability Lab at New York University.
Neither side made clear who would pay for infrastructure investments and at what cost.
The average price of gas in the U.S. stood at about $4.08 a gallon on Saturday, according to AAA. The average price was $3.20 at the same time last year.
Kevin Book, managing director at ClearView Energy Partners, said the oil industry is awaiting clarity on the deal's details. Venezuela has room to increase its oil production, he said — in the past it produced more than 2.5 million barrels a day above current levels — but investments of this scale don't happen quickly.
“It’s going to take time — many years — to deploy that much capital and produce the kind of incremental results that history suggests possible," Book said.
Some in Venezuela considered it a betrayal of what their government has stated repeatedly for decades: Venezuelan resources are for Venezuela, and leaders would not allow the U.S. government access to those resources.
At a market in eastern Caracas on Saturday, Douglas Borjas said he was upset about the announcement.
“I think they’re doing it to cling to power,” he said of Venezuela’s leaders. “It’s like, ‘I’m giving you a vast amount of petroleum as long as you leave me alone here in power.’”
He added: “The Venezuelan people deserve better. Venezuela has resources that can be exploited, but for the benefit of the people, not for the benefit of the corrupt elite.”
Harvard University professor Ricardo Hausmann, a former Venezuelan planning minister, called it a “shameful deal."
“Venezuelans will not respect this illegitimate deal and no major US oil company will take it seriously because they know it will not last,” Hausmann said on social media, adding that Rodríguez “has no legitimacy or constitutional power to commit Venezuela to any such deal."
In her national address, Rodríguez pushed back on some of the early criticism.
“One thing must be absolutely clear: Venezuela retains ownership and sovereignty over its resources,” Rodríguez said. She said the goal is to reach other agreements with transnational private companies such as Chevron, Repsol and Shell.
She added: “We want to be an energy powerhouse, a major oil producer, a significant gas exporter, and a major national petrochemical developer."
It is unclear whether Congress will play a role in the arrangement, but lawmakers from both parties were quick to weigh in.
Trump allies called it a win.
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, said it was a historic deal that helps both countries. “If it were up to DC Democrats, Maduro would still be in power, Venezuelan oil would be going to China at half price, and the people of Venezuela would be getting robbed by a corrupt regime,” Moreno wrote on social media.
It was condemned by Democrats who said Maduro's capture was a means to this end.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said Trump was always after Venezuela's oil, branding it “corruption at epic scale.”
“Will prices come down for Americans? Who knows but likely not as much as Trump has forced them up thru his idiotic Iran War," Kaine said on social media.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said Trump “put our service members at risk to get Venezuelan oil for his billionaire buddies.”
Many important details remain unclear, including who will cover necessary investments, the identity of the private operator and how America’s stake in the company breaks down.
The U.S. will get 55% of the company's effective output, but it was not clear what portion of that comes from an ownership stake and how much comes from the right to buy oil at cost.
It also is unclear how the industry will react. Persuading big American oil companies to return to the region could prove a challenge given the political uncertainty and damaged infrastructure.
Chevron, the only U.S. oil company actively producing in Venezuela, declined to comment. Separately from Trump’s announcement, Chevron already had been in talks to expand investment in the country. Exxon Mobil also declined to comment.
David Oxley, chief climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics, said that on its face, the deal could double U.S. oil reserves and reduce dependence on crude oil from Canada and Mexico. But Oxley, writing in a commentary, cautioned that there are logistical hurdles and said the value of Venezuela's reserves may have been exaggerated under former President Hugo Chavez.
Even with legal and security guarantees, it is not clear that U.S. oil companies “would be eager to invest,’’ he wrote, noting that “there simply might be more enticing commercial opportunities on offer elsewhere.’’
Arráez reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writer Moriah Balingit and AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman in Washington contributed to this report.
A pedestrian walks past a mural featuring oil wells in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026, a day after President Donald Trump announced a deal giving the United States a stake in Venezuela’s oil reserves. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
A man holds a sign with a message that reads in Spanish; "" Yankee out, murderers" during a protest against President Donald Trump's deal giving the United States a stake in Venezuela’s oil reserves in Caracas, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
Venezuelans protest against President Donald Trump's deal giving the United States a stake in Venezuela’s oil reserves in Caracas, Saturday, Aug 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event to present the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to Artemis II crew members, Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, at Johnson Space Center in Houston. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - Flames rise from flare stacks at the Amuay refinery in Los Taques, Venezuela, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)
