The demonstration was planned for 4pm on 15 April, a warm Sunday afternoon in the somnolent Nigerien capital. The protesters had two main complaints: rising taxes and the fact that, in recent years, some of the world’s most powerful armies had descended on their country.
But before the civil society leaders could even get to the march, they were arrested.
When a group of heavily armed men on motorbikes killed four American special ops soldiers in remote Niger last October, it was the first many had heard of the war the US was helping fight against a local branch of Isis.
But their involvement in that fight represents only a fraction of the US presence in the west African country, poor but strategically located in the middle of the Sahel, its borders crisscrossed by extremists and traffickers.
And the 800 US defence personnel in Niger are not alone. They are one of four western armies that have installed themselves in the vast desert landscape, variously flying armed drones, hunting militants, building vast bases, controlling migration and collecting intelligence from the region.
This is what the April protest was about.
Ibrahim Diori was arrested at home, and Maïkou Zodi in his car, both charged with participation in a banned demonstration and destruction of public property, even though they were not present. Today, they are in jail awaiting trial, along with colleagues arrested over previous marches.
The Nigerien government allows foreign powers free rein to build military bases and send soldiers to defend their interests in the region, while suppressing any dissent, according to those civil society leaders not in jail, and key opposition figures.
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