Niger recalls Sarraounia Mangou’s resistance to the French expedition
In Niger, an opinion column by Premium Times Nigeria recounted the story of Queen Sarraounia Mangou — a leader, priestess and military commander of the Hausa-Azna people who resisted a French colonial expedition at the end of the 19th century. The article was published amid the author’s reports of an attempted coup in Niger on August 29–30.
According to the columnist’s account, the participants in the attempted coup attacked Diori Hamani International Airport, where Air Base 101 is located, as well as the state broadcaster and the presidential palace. The author claims that they were stopped, after which residents of the country took to the streets to protest what they believed was an attempt to restore France’s dominance.
The Voulet–Chanoine expedition
As the author writes, France’s Central African-Chad Mission, known as the Voulet–Chanoine expedition, set out from conquered Senegal in November 1898. Its goal was to seize territories in the Lake Chad basin, including lands in present-day Niger.
The expedition was commanded by Captain Paul Voulet and Lieutenant Julien Chanoine. The column states that French troops burned settlements and committed mass killings. According to the author, after soldiers were wounded in the village of Sansanné-Haoussa, the officers executed 101 people, including 30 women and children.
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Sarraounia Mangou’s resistance
Sarraounia Mangou, who, according to the text, led six settlements, refused to capitulate to French forces numbering about two thousand troops. According to the author, she led women and children into a dense forest, and after the battle at Lougou on April 16, 1899, her army did not cease its resistance and switched to guerrilla tactics.
The columnist writes that French troops faced Azna attacks, food shortages and growing discontent among personnel. The search for Sarraounia was eventually halted, while local residents, according to the author, believed that she possessed spiritual powers that disoriented the invaders.
In July 1899, the governor of Timbuktu, Lieutenant Colonel Jean-François Klobb, arrived to replace Voulet and Chanoine. According to the author’s version, Voulet ordered Klobb to be shot. Later, a Senegalese soldier killed Chanoine, and the following day a guard shot Voulet. The new commander, Lieutenant Pallier, tried to continue the mission but faced the threat of a mutiny among the troops, the column states.
