[♪ suspenseful music plays]
[Mariana van Zeller] Back in September of 2001,
I was a student at Columbia's Journalism School
in New York,
when the world as we knew it changed.
[♪ suspenseful music plays]
As one of the few Portuguese journalists in New York,
I was asked by a network in Lisbon to go live from the city.
[speaking Portuguese].
[Mariana van Zeller] It was the first time I'd covered terrorism
and it awakened me to the ways that extreme ideologies
festering in distant places can impact
so many in a globalized world.
[overlapping chatter]
[Mariana van Zeller] My experience on 9/11
led to other stories,
investigating terror networks in Syria, Iraq,
Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone...
You see the mine right here?
...Nigeria and Lebanon.
In the hands of Hezbollah, how careful should we be?
[Rami] Uh, you should be very careful.
[Mariana van Zeller] I've tried to understand how these
groups think, how they recruit,
how they plan.
It goes into the truck, yeah?
And how they fund their operations.
They're making money out of the selling and
out of the transportation of oil.
[interviewee] They collect it from us and sell it
on the black market to the Syrians.
[Mariana van Zeller] And recently, I've heard rumors
of a new funding source, gold.
That's what brought me to Niger.
[gunfire]
[bystander] Allahu Akbar!
[Mariana van Zeller] I came here to learn how this dangerous
trade works and how terrorists are profiting.
But then, the world shifted once again.
Hi, can you hear me?
The communication is really bad.
Communication is really bad.
I'm sorry.
[phone disconnects]
[bleep].
[Darren Foster on phone] Hello?
[Mariana van Zeller] Yes, so we just got word that there was
a military coup, and basically it just happened a few hours ago
in the capital.
And we're just waiting for, for word on what to do.
We're not sure.
[inaudible].
[Mariana van Zeller] What's that?
Sorry, the, the connection.
[phone disconnects]
Yeah, and now it's not even going through.
We have no idea what's happening.
We're all really on edge and it doesn't look like
it's very safe for us to stay here.
[♪ theme music plays].
[singing foreign language].
[♪ upbeat music plays]
[Mariana van Zeller] So, we're basically driving right
in the middle of the Sahara.
There's no, like, actual real roads here.
And there's just miles and miles of
just emptiness, nothing.
We're in a convoy of three military trucks right now,
with about, I don't know, like 20 guys carrying an AK-47,
and they say that that's necessary here,
because there's been an increase in attack in this region.
Niger is one of the most remote and dangerous places
in the world.
The country is part of the Sahel region of Africa,
a region that's become a breeding ground for
the biggest brands in terrorism.
Since the early 2000s, groups like al-Qaeda,
Boko Haram and The Islamic State
have killed tens of thousands of people in the Sahel,
and displaced millions more.
[bystander] Allahu Akbar!
[Mariana van Zeller] It's all part of a violent attempt
to expand their influence and spread their ideology.
But that expansion is costly.
And one newfound commodity here is helping to fuel it.
So, there's been a huge gold rush in Niger in
the past decade and there have been gold mines
popping up all over the country.
We're heading to one of the most recent ones.
I want to know if these recent discoveries of gold are becoming
a hidden source of funding for terror groups,
so I'm starting at the source.
You can start seeing some huts.
You know, you drive in the desert for so long,
you don't see anything and it seems like so out of place.
So here it is. This is it.
The gold Wild West.
[laughter]
[Mariana van Zeller] All those holes on the ground,
that's all mines.
So, they're basically going down in, under these holes.
Wow. That is insane.
[Mariana van Zeller] How are you?
Hello, how are you?
[Issifou] Yes, we're fine.
Welcome.
[Mariana van Zeller] I'm Mariana.
[Issifou] Yes, Mariana. Welcome.
Welcome.
[Mariana van Zeller] What's your name?
[Issifou] My name is Issifou.
[Mariana van Zeller] This is a familiar sight throughout
the Sahel, young men prospecting in the desert with
hand tools and little else.
But the reason our army escort is on high alert is
because deadly attacks on mining sites, like this one,
have become alarmingly common.
[Issifou] I'll show you.
Down in the hole over there.
[Mariana van Zeller] In fact, this was one of the only mines
in the entire country that they felt comfortable
with us visiting.
[Mariana van Zeller] In the big one here?
[Issifou] Yeah, here.
We're going into the hole.
[Mariana van Zeller] So he's saying his mine is right here.
But you can see all of these were,
there's a bunch of holes around that are all,
they're all essentially mines.
Oh, wow.
Holy moly. Okay.
This, so this is the entrance to his mine, right here.
Wow.
[Mariana van Zeller] How many meters is it?
[Issifou] It can be more than 100 meters (330 feet).
[Mariana van Zeller] And we can go?
[Issifou] Yeah, we can go look.
[Mariana van Zeller] Oui.
[Issifou] You can go down slowly here,
as there are holes on the other side.
Here we are.
[Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow, so there's a, one of the guys,
one of the miners that's coming up right now,
so we're at about 60 feet and
we have to go over 200 feet down.
The mine has been blasted with dynamite and dug out by hand.
There are no supports to buttress the walls or ceiling.
And yet, Issifou and his men navigate the shafts without
any safety equipment and just flip flops on their feet.
[groans]
Okay.
Oh, wow, it's getting really, really dark now.
Super dark.
You can barely see anything.
You really do need these headlamps.
All of this is unregulated.
The sense I get from the miners is that the government is
so strapped for resources,
these mines can operate with impunity.
I imagine there's a hope, too, that young men at work in
the mines will be harder targets for terrorists to recruit.
If that sounds rather desperate, it is.
And indicative of the many challenges facing the country.
[Mariana van Zeller] Is it this way?
[Issifou] Yes, it's this way.
[Mariana van Zeller] I mean, come and, come and see this.
This is crazy how deep it gets.
At this point, it's just so steep that we have to go with
our bums down as if it's a slide.
[speaking French]
[Mariana van Zeller] I think we're getting close.
You can start hearing the hammering on the rock here.
[Mariana van Zeller] Is it here?
[Issifou] Here it is.
[Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow.
Okay, so this is where they're digging right now.
You can see them essentially hitting and
basically digging for gold.
See and then it all goes into these big,
white bags and gets carried up.
It's, uh, really hot here, very hot,
and really dark.
And you could see pieces of, basically,
the ceiling falling down.
[Issifou] Come this way.
[Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow.
[Issifou] That's it.
There's gold in it, see?
There's gold in it.
[Mariana van Zeller] So this is the vein.
[Issifou] Where it gives colors like that,
we're going to find gold.
Here it is.
[Mariana van Zeller] It's estimated that more than
$5 billion in gold is extracted each year from
small unregulated sites in the Sahel, like this one,
a testament to the sheer willpower
of miners like Issifou.
And, uh, they're, they're telling us that we actually have
to start going up because they, at, at 5:00 p.m.,
they start putting dynamites in the mines around,
so there's a risk that this will all collapse.
So they're telling us we have to head up.
We have two minutes to get up there.
Okay, okay.
Okay. Okay, let's go, guys.
[speaking French].
[♪ suspenseful music plays]
[Mariana van Zeller] If they reach a rock that is too hard to
hit by hand, that's when they use the dynamite.
And he says they use it quite frequently.
Every workday at 5:00 p.m.,
Issifou and his men set off explosives.
[rumbling]
Whoa, did you hear that?
[Issifou] If it's lit up here, it'll go too fast,
and this will explode.
[Mariana van Zeller] When the dust settles,
they'll descend back into the mine and work late into
the night, hauling out the blasted rock.
Much as I'd like to stay, the gold mines of the Sahel region
are not a place to be caught after dark.
The soldiers escorting us are adamant that we get back to
our camp before nightfall, or risk finding ourselves
in somebody's crosshairs.
[Mariana van Zeller] We've heard that other mines
are being attacked
by terrorists.
[Issifou] Yes, yes.
They want to kill everyone.
Kill, murder people.
They came to a village
and they said everyone had to give them money.
[Mariana van Zeller] Extortion.
[Issifou] If you don't bring the money,
they'll come and kill you all.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] Last year, 2023,
more than half of all
terrorist related deaths happened in the Sahel.
[Mariana van Zeller] Kiari Liman-Tinguiri has served
as the Nigerian ambassador to the United States since 2021.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] You have ISIS, you have Al-Qaeda.
To the south we have Boko Haram.
In the north you have JNIM, which is Al-Qaeda affiliate.
Their goal is to try to set up
Islamic State that can be a sanctuary,
a safe haven for their activity against
the rest of the world.
So, they will use gold,
but not just as an end, no.
They will use it as a means.
[Mariana van Zeller] Back in 2002 and 2003,
there were just nine terrorist attacks on
the entire African continent.
Fast forward 20 years to 2022,
and that number jumped to 2,737 attacks
in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali alone.
The attacks often entail large groups of terrorists
roaring into villages and mining sites on motorcycles,
and robbing and killing with abandon.
[rapid gunfire]
[Mariana van Zeller] What do you do to maintain security?
[Issifou] My security is praying to God.
God has to protect us, yeah.
Because we have no weapons.
We're here to work.
Because we don't want to go out and commit banditry.
My dream is to secure enough money
to provide a good education for my children
so they can grow up to be good people.
Look how dirty we are.
It's all to save our children and our parents.
[Mariana van Zeller] Ultimately, it's this desperation that keeps
the miners digging, despite all the risks.
[grinding]
[Issifou] This is where we do the work
to remove the gold.
If we've been working in the bush,
we'll bring the rocks here to be crushed,
to get the gold out.
Yeah, it's the machines that work here.
[♪ upbeat music playing]
[Mariana van Zeller] The rocks he brings here generally
yield small amounts of gold.
It's then sold to middlemen for cash,
and the profits split evenly between
the mine's owner and Issifou's crew.
[Issifou] It's not much.
That's it, but it's not much.
[Mariana van Zeller] How much is this?
[Issifou] One gram.
[Mariana van Zeller] So this is a gram of gold basically.
This is after it's, the mercury's been burnt off.
It will be sold for the equivalent of about $60.
It doesn't look like much, but, uh,
this is why all of this is happening.
It's all because of this.
[Issifou] Little by little, one day it becomes a lot.
-This is taken, then transported to Agadez.
[Issifou] Yes, Agadez.
[Mariana van Zeller] The journey from here to Agadez is
100 miles of unpaved and punishing terrain.
[singing in foreign language]
[Mariana van Zeller] But waiting at the end is a city
that serves as a stronghold
of Tuareg people and a crossroads of the Sahel,
where fortunes in ivory, salt, spices, and slaves
have traded hands over the centuries.
[car honking]
Today, it's gold that feeds the local economy.
[clinking]
[sizzling]
Oh, wow.
This is almost 600 grams of gold.
It's worth, uh, $36,000.
This is market day for Clickely, a gold broker who has come to
the forge to melt down ingots that he and his men have bought
from miners like Issifou.
If terrorists are stealing gold, at some point,
they must trade it...
[sizzling]
And I'm hoping Clickely can explain how
and where that happens.
[Mariana van Zeller] So how much gold did you make today?
[Clickely] Just over 200 million (francs).
[Mariana van Zeller] So today alone, he's processed
$333,000 worth of gold here.
That is incredible.
[Mariana van Zeller] So how much profit do you make
from seven kilos?
-Seven kilos. The profit is twenty million (francs).
[Mariana van Zeller] 20 million?
So that's $33,000 that he's made just today from
the golds that he was able to process.
And that's liquid.
Just pure money.
Clickely has agreed to speak with us,
but only for a short while.
Especially in a country with poverty as desperate as Niger's,
walking the streets with gold bars is an invitation
to be robbed or killed.
[Mariana van Zeller] Is it dangerous to do things here?
[Clickely] Yes.
But we have weapons, we have guns.
[Mariana van Zeller] Have you ever used the weapon?
[Clickely] Yes.
[♪ suspenseful music plays]
[♪ eerie music playing]
[Mariana van Zeller] Have you ever used the weapon?
[clicks]
[Clickely] Yes.
[Mariana van Zeller] For a bandit? Or what?
[Clickely] For a bandit.
It's normal if you work with gold.
[Mariana van Zeller] So a lot of people here are armed?
[Clickely] There are a lot of guns in this line of work.
That's normal.
[Mariana van Zeller] Have you ever been robbed?
[Clickely] Yes.
[Mariana van Zeller] And how much money?
[Clickely] In total...
[Mariana van Zeller] So many zeros.
[Clickely] 1,220,000,000 (francs)
[Mariana van Zeller] Two million dollars!
-Yes. -$2 million?
-Yes. Yes. -Wow!
[Clickely] That's for sure.
Now I have hired security.
[Mariana van Zeller] Yes?
How many people?
[Clickely] A lot.
Even arriving last night
with this gold,
twenty security cars.
[Mariana van Zeller] Twenty cars?
Really?
[Clickely] Really.
[Mariana van Zeller] Wow.
The Sahel wasn't always this dangerous.
Ironically, it was an American and NATO intervention
in neighboring Libya that created a power vacuum and
opened the floodgates to militants.
[Dr. Stephanie Savell] The problem really arose following
the fall of Gaddafi in 2011 in Libya.
[reporter] This final image,
a violent end for a violent man.
[Dr. Stephanie Savell] The mercenaries who were fighting
for Gaddafi, they looted his weapon stores.
[reporter] Artillery, rockets, missiles,
and chemical weapons agents that
could make a terrorist's head spin.
[Dr. Stephanie Savell] And came down south into Mali.
[Mariana van Zeller] That influx of fighters and weapons
made the Sahel less safe and less stable.
Terrorist groups saw the region's increasing lawlessness
as the perfect place to recruit, train,
and plan attacks, both in Africa and beyond.
Back in Washington, America saw uncomfortable parallels
to Afghanistan and 9/11.
[President Obama] We have to recognize that the threat has
shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on 9/11.
With a decade of experience now to draw from,
this is the moment to ask ourselves hard questions,
about the nature of today's threats and
how we should confront them.
[Mariana van Zeller] To try to stem it,
they began pouring humanitarian and military aid into Niger.
So, this is actually one of the largest U.S. military
drone bases in the world,
and we're in the middle of the Sahara Desert,
in the middle of nowhere.
On the outskirts of Agadez is an American military facility
known as Air Base 201.
Finished in 2019 by the U.S. Air Force
at a cost of more than $100 million.
American taxpayers also spend an estimated
20 to $30 million a year to maintain it.
You can see it's all this barbed wire that goes on
for a long time.
There's a bunch of soldiers coming out.
Well-armed.
They want us to stop? Are they asking us to stop?
Should we stop?
I think we were driving too close to the base.
So now we have a couple of, uh,
soldiers coming to ask us questions.
The U.S. has more than
1,000 military personnel stationed in Niger
whose presence, along with drone surveillance and strikes,
are intended to help keep terrorist groups in check.
[explosion]
But lawlessness remains rampant.
Even here, on the perimeter of Base 201,
less than a year ago, a vehicle carrying $40,000 in payroll for
the base was robbed in broad daylight.
So it's understandable why they'd ask us to stop the car.
So we're with National Geographic,
we're a television crew.
I can show you my credential.
After a few questions, they let us go.
[soldier] Go, go.
[Mariana van Zeller] Our plan was now to move closer to
the capital, Niamey, to further investigate gold
and terror connections.
When we came to Niger, we knew that the gold trade was just
one facet of a bigger story, about America's ongoing strategy
for combating Islamic terrorists,
and its battle with other global powers
for influence in the region.
But not in our wildest dreams did we expect
what would happen next.
[phone line ringing]
[Darren Foster on phone] Hello?
[Mariana van Zeller] Hi, can you hear me?
The communication is really bad. Communication is really bad.
I'm sorry.
[phone disconnects]
[bleep].
[phone line ringing]
-Hello? -Yes.
[Mariana van Zeller] So, we just got word that there was
a military coup in the country.
Just got back to the hotel and finally got access
to cell phone service.
And basically, it just happened a few hour,
a couple of hours ago in the, in the capital, um,
and we're just waiting for, for word on what to do.
We're not sure.
Um, right, you know, right now, we're in Agadez.
[inaudible].
[Mariana van Zeller] What's that?
Sorry, the, the connection.
[phone disconnects]
Yeah, and now it's not even going through.
[reporter] Tonight, chaos in the capital of Niger...
[rapid gunfire]
After what appears to be a coup attempt against
President Mohamed Bazoum by his own security forces.
[speaking foreign language].
[Lester Holt] In addition to growing threats
from terror groups.
[reporter] The U.S. is calling for the president
to be released immediately.
[reporter] Officers were closing the country's borders
and establishing a curfew.
[speaking foreign language].
[reporter] Niger is a key security ally for
the U.S. in the region.
[correspondent] This does not bode well at all.
[Mariana van Zeller] Kamil?
-Hello? -Hey, Mariana here.
[Mariana van Zeller] We got the news and it's, uh,
I think we're all a little bit on edge here.
We're all very nervous.
How are you doing?
[Kamil Abdoulaye Algoumaret] The situation is very
tense and confused.
[Mariana van Zeller] And what do you, what do you mean?
What is happening in the capital?
[phone disconnects]
Oh, [bleep].
[phone line ringing]
Hi, can you hear me?
-Hello, sorry. -So, what happened exactly?
[Mariana van Zeller] Can you tell me?
[Kamil Abdoulaye Algoumaret] We went to the presidency,
they do some shoots-
[Mariana van Zeller] Oh, wow. So, there were some
shots fired, right, on the streets of, of the capital?
[phone disconnects]
So yeah, I think, we have no idea what's happening.
We're all really on edge and waiting to hear what to do next.
It doesn't look like it's very safe for us to stay here.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] I was here in D.C.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] I received calls and
WhatsApp message and, uh.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] people telling me something
is happening around the presidency.
So I called the president,
he told me, "Yes, that's the situation we are in."
[reporter] Demonstrators who support the president scampered
as gunshots rang out.
[reporter] Why this coup is happening is unclear.
[reporter] They've closed the country's borders and
they've closed the airspace, so no flights are coming or going.
[reporter] What was a fragile democracy,
now appears to be heading towards full blown
military dictatorship.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] Everything can happen in
the immediate after-coup.
I was scared for the president,
for his life, for his family.
And I was scared also for the people.
[speaking French].
[Mariana van Zeller] So the president is still being
detained by the military?
[Baba Toure] Yes.
The president are detained by the militaries.
[Mariana van Zeller] Baba Toure is our local producer,
who's originally from Mali.
[phone chiming]
[Baba Toure] Sorry, sorry.
[Mariana van Zeller] Are you getting a lot of messages
from your family and people?
[Baba Toure] Yeah. Yeah.
-Worried? -I get, yes.
[Baba Toure] Since yesternight, my family called me.
[Mariana van Zeller] Mm-hmm.
[Baba Toure] Friends, they try to know,
they try to know if I'm fine, if everything is good.
Everybody is worried, yeah.
[Mariana van Zeller] Check these out, the ones responsible
for the coup, yeah?
[Baba Toure] Yeah.
[Mariana van Zeller] I've been a journalist for over 25 years and
this is the first time I've been trapped inside my own story.
Overnight, airspace has been shut down,
and land borders have been closed.
That leaves us in a tight spot.
We came here with army security provided by
President Bazoum's government.
And now that his government is gone,
so is our security.
We're in a small hotel in the desert,
a 500 mile drive from the international airport in
the capital, glued to the tv watching events unfold.
[cheering]
[Mariana van Zeller] This coup is a deep shock for the country
and for the U.S.
It was only four months ago that Antony Blinken made
the first ever official visit by a Secretary of State to Niger.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] It was historical.
It's a political message to say to the world that
for the U.S., friendship with Niger matters.
That they respect and admire what President Bazoum was doing.
That the U.S. is open to assist Niger
in economic growth and development,
but also in security, state-building,
reinforcing democracy.
[Antony Blinken] Today, I announce nearly $150 million
in new humanitarian assistance.
[Antony Blinken] Niger is really an extraordinary model at
a time of great challenge -
a model of resilience, a model of democracy.
[Mariana van Zeller] What does it mean that only
months later, this, "Model of democracy,"
has been overthrown?
[reporter] Niger was in the process of shrugging off
a reputation as part of the, "Coup-club," countries in
this part of Africa.
[Mariana van Zeller] Rumors are swirling about
what really motivated the coup.
Did General Tchiani, the leader of the presidential guards,
take action because he'd heard he was about to be replaced?
Was president Bazoum to blame for fostering such close ties
to France, which ruled Niger as a colony until 1960
and maintained an unpopular military presence?
One of the first acts of violence to be broadcast is
the riot where coup supporters chant,
"Down with France," as they tried to set fire to
its embassy in the capital.
[cheering]
[reporter] Elsewhere in the capital,
they hold aloft the Russian flag.
[Mariana van Zeller] Or was this the work of Putin's Russia,
a country that has much to gain from Niger's break
with France and the U.S.?
[reporter] Tailors in Niger's capital busy making
more Russian flags to meet increased demand.
[Mariana van Zeller] Again and again,
Putin has attempted to use the instability
in the region to his advantage.
The Sahel has experienced seven coups in just three years,
ushering a new generation of
military strongmen into Putin's orbit.
He's hosted them at conferences in Moscow and
provided Wagner mercenary troops to help them fight
terrorists and maintain control.
[reporter] Wagner and Russia's stock seem to be
rising in West Africa.
[speaking foreign language].
[reporter] "All the Africans know that Putin is
ready to save us," this man says.
[Mariana van Zeller] In exchange, Russia has obtained
valuable mining contracts to extract the Sahel's many
natural resources, including gold.
There is a concern that Putin might send troops to prop up
the coup leaders, an action that could spark a civil war.
It's also possible that terrorist groups could exploit
these chaotic days after the coup to stage
their next big attack.
[automated voice] You are in the meeting now.
-Hi, guys. -Hey, everyone.
[Mariana van Zeller] Mariana here.
I think, at this point, we would all feel much better if
we're actually discussing plans for our extraction,
in case there is in fact a military evacuation.
[Anita] Oh yeah, we understand your concerns and they're valid.
Our current recommendation as I understand
is to stay where you are at the moment.
Violence is a lot more likely to break out in places like Niamey
where the pro-Russian protests are currently happening.
[Mariana van Zeller] Yeah. We understand all that.
We just want to know, if violence breaks out where
we are right now, what is the plan?
[Nathan] We can't identify where the hot spots will be,
and where the safe locations would also be.
It's touch and go at this moment, very much.
[Mariana van Zeller] So what exactly is it that you
guys can do for us?
What exactly is your role?
[Nathan] If the situation does get worse in Agadez,
we can move you to a different location.
[Mariana van Zeller] Yeah. So that's what,
we sort of want to have those, where would that be?
When would that be and where?
What, what's that point?
And is there a plan already being set in motion?
We're missing a little bit of a sense of urgency
or plan, pre-planning, so we're not stuck in a war if
military intervention starts.
[Anita] So depending on what happens we can move you
to a safe location inside the country...
[Mariana van Zeller] Yeah, but do you guys have any idea
where that is?
Do, any, any idea, any idea where that would be?
What's that safe location?
Any, any idea?
[Nathan] Currently, no.
[Mariana van Zeller] I think the most troubling part of it all is
the fact that we're stuck here.
They say it's, it'll be, at least,
another week before, um, there's,
they open up the airspace.
Maybe more.
So we have no idea how long we're gonna be stuck here.
Stuck in our little Agadez hotel,
I find myself fighting two impulses.
The first, to get out of the country as soon as possible,
as there's a real chance of violence breaking out.
The second impulse is to do what we've come here to do.
We wanted to see the situation,
so we've actually been out and about today.
Things are pretty calm here.
Niamey, in the capital, is not the same.
They've been burning buildings.
There've been a lot of protests,
both supporting the coup and against the coup.
A contact says a former member of a terror group has agreed to
meet with me, but only in a location of his choosing,
and that means leaving the relative safety of our hotel.
I'm hopeful this man has insight into how these terror groups,
the gold trade, and the coup are all intertwined.
We're looking for this blue door,
somewhere around this neighborhood.
But, really, I have no idea what I'm walking into.
[♪ suspenseful music plays]
[knocking]
[♪ suspenseful music plays]
[Mariana van Zeller] Okay.
[Mariana van Zeller] Moustapha is the name you want me to use?
[Moustapha] Yes.
[Mariana van Zeller] Is that your real name?
[Moustapha] No, no, no.
-What can you tell me about your links with extremists?
[Moustapha] I was converted to terrorism
through brothers I know.
[Mariana van Zeller] How old were you
when you joined the group?
[Moustapha] 18 years old...
The group was Al-Qaeda.
[Mariana van Zeller] Al-Qaeda.
And how did they convert you?
[Moustapha] Well, it wasn't too difficult for me to convert.
Basically here, at home, we're Muslims.
So that's what got me going in the first place.
And then there were other things. The lack of work...
[Mariana van Zeller] For the whole country.
[Moustapha] Specifically in the area I'm from. There's no work.
[Mariana van Zeller] What did you do there (with Al-Qaeda)?
[Moustapha] When you join you go through military training.
And then...
you're given a weapon.
Then you're put in a camp,
but you don't understand what's going on.
[Mariana van Zeller] And what kind of violence did you see?
[Moustapha] Every type of violence.
People decapitated.
They cut off your hands for nothing.
If you're caught with a woman...
They hit you 100 times.
It's very dangerous because it's a system.
Maybe not many people understand it.
I understand it very well
because I'm part of the system.
[Mariana van Zeller] Were you violent?
[Moustapha] No.
It was good luck. It was my good luck.
The good Lord protected me in a way that I didn't kill anybody.
[Mariana van Zeller] How do they manage to pay for their activity
and for these weapons, for all that?
-There's a lot of stuff. Trafficking. Drug trafficking.
[Mariana van Zeller] Gold too?
[Moustapha] Yes, there's gold too.
When they enter a mining site
where the terrorists are in control,
you have to pay the Zakat.
[Mariana van Zeller] Zakat is one of the pillars of Islam,
a charitable offering required of Muslims each year.
But in this case, what Moustapha describes,
is more akin to a shakedown.
[Mariana van Zeller] And they use gold to pay for things?
[Moustapha] Gold is used to pay for medicines, for example.
It's used to pay for food.
It's used for fuel.
[Mariana van Zeller] Weapons?
[Moustapha] Everything.
Everything.
[Mariana van Zeller] Moustapha explains that some of the gold
is used as currency in Niger.
The rest is sent to Dubai where it's traded for cash and used to
purchase goods that are then imported back into the country.
[Mariana van Zeller] Do you know anyone who's done this?
-Today, even if I know someone who can do these things,
I can't introduce you to them because
I don't know what's going to happen next.
I can be taken away.
I can disappear.
You betray us, we kill you.
[Mariana van Zeller] And what do you think about the coup?
[Moustapha] It's a surprise for me.
I didn't think that today in Niger,
we could stage a coup like that.
It's not good for the country, for its development,
because now everything will come to a halt.
[Mariana van Zeller] As we head back to our hotel,
it strikes me that he's wrong about one point.
Not everything will come to a halt.
If I learned anything over the years,
it's that black markets thrive in instability.
The lack of opportunities will only send more young men
to the mines or into the arms of terrorist groups.
Instability breeds more instability,
especially in a region like the Sahel,
which sits atop a treasure trove of untapped natural resources.
Gold, yes.
But also oil, uranium, and rare earth minerals.
This coup is part of a much larger story about
resources and power.
Who's got them?
Who wants them?
And what people are willing to do to get them?
[reporter] International pressure intensifies four days
after the coup d'état in Niger.
France and the European Union suspending budgetary aid.
They do not recognize General Tchiani's power.
[Mariana van Zeller] So the West African state leaders are
discussing the situation in Niger.
And one of the possibilities is military intervention,
which obviously is really bad news,
because if things get violent here and if the war breaks out,
we wanna be sure that there is an evacuation plan in place.
We went to the airport yesterday, as well,
to see if they had any news on possible planes leaving.
You know, the airspace is still closed, so nothing there.
I think, at this point, we just wanna be proactive and
do as much as we can.
[reporter] We begin the day with the possibility of war in Niger
still very much on the table.
[Omar Alieu Touray] Direct the community to activate
the ECOWAS Standby Force with all its elements immediately.
[Deane Smith] What I would say is that we are in
the best position to being within Niger.
[Mariana van Zeller] Mm-hmm.
[Deane Smith] Because we're away from the capital.
We're away from the major towns.
Obviously, we're here in Agadez.
[Mariana van Zeller] Mm-hmm.
Yeah, but we're also away from an, an exit if...
[Deane Smith] Yeah. Totally. Yeah.
[Mariana van Zeller] When that news came out that
the West African states have given the coup leaders
seven days to bring back President Bazoum,
my thought process is we have seven days to
figure out how to get out of this country.
What happens if there's violence at the door of our hotel?
Is it safe?
Are the roads, has, do you know anyone, Baba,
who's done this journey to the border with Nigeria?
Is it at all safe for us to go?
[Baba Toure] I cannot confirm the roads are safe.
[Mariana van Zeller] We'd arrived in Agadez by plane,
because thieves and terrorists made it too dangerous to travel
by road without heavy security.
[crew] What do you guys reckon?
You think we'll be staying put or heading to Niamey?
[crew] I don't know.
Both are sounding equally unappealing with every day.
[Mariana van Zeller] But we had only planned to stay for
four days, quick enough to get in and out
without drawing too much attention.
Instead we're stuck.
The most visible foreigners in the city.
And a tempting target for a militant group or kidnappers.
The question now is whether to take our chances on the roads
and make our way to a neighboring country,
which would require traveling without a military escort.
So, ironically, after covering black market operators
for most of my career,
our best hope of escape from Agadez
may be to hire one to smuggle us out.
So we're, we're waiting for this guy who works in
the gold business to come and meet us here at the hotel.
It's very interesting 'cause there's a photo of the president
in a lot of these business establishments.
There's always a photo of the president.
Oh, he's here actually.
[in French] How are you?
-So I'll call you Ismael, is that all right?
[Ismael] That's good.
[Mariana van Zeller] I'm hopeful that Ismael might be
our ticket out of Niger.
[Ismael] I'm a transporter.
[Mariana van Zeller] Of what?
[Ismael] Everything.
People, luggage, miners, everything.
[Mariana van Zeller] Ismael tells us stories,
as most everybody in Agadez does,
about recent murders and atrocities he's witnessed
on the road.
[gunshots]
Wow. You can hear the shots.
[speaking foreign language].
[Mariana van Zeller] Wow.
They were coming your way, so you went to the ground.
Wow.
It's not the most hopeful starting point when looking
for a viable escape route.
[Mariana van Zeller] So how long, how many days,
how many roads does it take to get to Algeria?
[Ismael] You can make the round trip in a single day.
[speaking French]
[Mariana van Zeller] If we want to go, could you take us?
[Ismael] No. I can't take you.
[Mariana van Zeller] Why?
-If there's security with us, we'll go, there's no problem.
[Mariana van Zeller] Hmm.
[Ismael] But for me to take you like this to go over there,
that's a problem.
[Mariana van Zeller] For Ismael, traveling with a group of
Americans would make a dangerous trip even more so.
But providing security isn't something we can offer,
and without it, we run the risk of becoming
another cautionary tale on someone's phone.
[Ismael] They're all dead.
There was one who was still alive when we arrived.
But it's far away and he died on the road.
[Mariana van Zeller] The more we explore possible
exit strategies, none of them look particularly safe.
The funny thing is, we're only two miles from Base 201,
but despite many requests,
the U.S. Military won't allow us to take shelter at the base,
perhaps because the U.S. is in the middle of its own crisis.
[Antony Blinken] We are condemning the actions that
have taken place in Niger.
[Mariana van Zeller] So far, the State Department has refused to
label the action a coup, which would legally require
the U.S. to withdraw financial aid.
There are concerns that that might push the new government
into the waiting arms of Putin.
[Antony Blinken] Our economic and security partnership
with Niger, which is significant,
hundreds of millions of dollars,
depends on the continuation of the democratic governance
and constitutional order that has been disrupted.
[Mariana van Zeller] That's the thing about a coup like this,
it casts a spell of uncertainty over everything,
big and small.
For the people of Niger, it's unclear who will rule
and if the chaos will spread.
For the U.S., President Bazoum's ouster means losing our closest
African ally in the war on terror.
And for us, stuck in our hotel,
it means trying to stay positive.
Because while European governments are evacuating
their citizens as fast as they can,
the U.S. won't declare it a coup,
and that means they won't help us get out.
[reporter] "French nationals in Niger will be evacuated.
This will start today."
"Burkina Faso and Mali claim that
military intervention in Niger..."
"...is tantamount to a declaration of war on
their two countries."
[Mariana van Zeller] We've been spending days on end,
trying to find seats on humanitarian planes which could
take us to the capital, Niamey,
but even those planes in Agadez remain grounded.
And these are supposedly the last planes
that are taking Europeans out.
And they're already on the runway about to leave and he was
able to get us all seats, but the problem is that we're
very far away so we're not gonna be able to make those flights.
I just got a message from the,
our U.S. military contact at the base here.
[Paul] Mm-hmm.
Does he say that they're anticipating
the evacuation order to come?
[Mariana van Zeller] Uh, "If the evacuation order is given,
we are standing by to receive the order to come get you all
and bring us back to the airbase here."
-Okay.
-So it's still an if. -Okay.
[Mariana van Zeller] I mean, the Italians and the Germans
have all given evacuation orders.
-Mm-hmm.
[text tone]
-What's happening?
[Paul] Darren just sent it.
[Mariana van Zeller] It says, "No, nobody has made any calls
to consolidate Americans yet."
[bleep].
We've got five more days before ECOWAS's ultimatum ends and
possible military intervention by the West African states.
Mali and Burkina Faso have said that they are ready to come and
fight and defend the military coup.
So a civil war could break out at any point,
and we're in a race against time for this evacuation window
that's happening, except that in our case,
we're 1,000 kilometers away from the capital, Niamey,
where those planes are leaving at this moment.
I think we've all felt very emotional.
Just the uncertainty of it all has really took, taken a toll.
And they're really just missing our families,
and that moment that's gonna happen very, very soon.
We're gonna be able to hug um, our loved ones,
is what's keeping us going.
[phone dialing]
[automated voice] You are in the meeting now.
[Mariana van Zeller] Hey, guys. We've got the whole team here.
[Frank Harrison] All right. Just briefed the team
before you came on board.
We'll bring you up to speed, about...
[Frank Harrison] A little over ten minutes ago we got
the landing approval for Agadez issued.
And what we're waiting on right now is for
the crew to get in, get the aircraft up in the air.
Correct, and it'll be going Dubai picking you up,
and returning you to Dubai.
-Yes. -Wow.
[Mariana van Zeller] That's, that's incredible news.
I think we're all very happy.
But it seems like it's firm, it's firm.
Like this is actually happening.
We're actually sure that this is happening now, right?
We don't wanna give false hopes again to the team.
[Frank Harrison] I'm actually watching
the crew getting mobilized.
[Mariana van Zeller] With all other doors closed,
a private extraction company will try to
land a plane to get us out.
[Frank Harrison] Now, the concern is
we now need to safeguard and protect your team because
now the military in the capital of Niamey
is aware of an evacuation that's occurring out of Agadez.
They may start getting curious.
Try not to share it with too many people.
And the air crew does want you to arrive at the aircraft
with security to safeguard the aircraft.
[♪ dramatic music]
[Mariana van Zeller] Everyone in the car?
[Paul] Yes. Let's pull out please.
[Deane Smith] Okay. Let's go.
Nice and steady.
[Deane Smith] Okay. Let's go.
Nice and steady.
[Mariana van Zeller] The plane's supposed to land in 20 minutes.
So our police escort didn't show up and there's a curfew
that goes until 5:00 a.m.
So today is actually Independence Day here in Niger.
They've reported protests happening around the country
in support of the coup, and, apparently,
there's going to be a lot of anti-Western feelings around.
People are afraid of foreigners being a target.
So we were actually scared that because of this
Independence Day, that the plane wouldn't be able to land,
the airport here wouldn't be operational.
But it's supposed to land in 20 minutes.
It's been a really nerve-racking night.
[Paul] We've got a little bit of a roadblock coming up here.
[Mariana van Zeller] I think there's a full awareness amongst
our whole team that we are the lucky ones.
We've had a very uncertain one week.
But for the people of Niger,
for all the incredible people that we've met along the way,
it's an uncertain future
and, you know, one without democracy
and possible violence on the way.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] I'm very concerned about,
about the future and I'm, I'm very concerned for
the generations to come.
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] We have a very young population.
The youngest in the world.
Sixty-five percent below twenty-five.
President Bazoum was trying to give hope through education.
We are about to lose it.
Not only do we have the jihadists,
but we have all of these traditional leaders
totally opposed to any form of modernity.
Religious leaders who are also
totally anti anything that looks like democracy.
They don't believe that human beings are equal.
They don't believe in that.
They believe that some are better than others.
And these people are surging and gaining influence.
[Mariana van Zeller] So the airport is on our right and
I'm trying to see if I can see the plane coming in anywhere.
[♪ dramatic music]
[Paul] We're just getting out... on its way back.
[♪ dramatic music]
[jet engine rumbling]
[Mariana van Zeller] We're getting in.
Thank you.
The captain is checking with his ops.
Okay. He said we're good to leave.
Seems like we're good.
[captain] Crew, Vector is the primary radio.
[♪ dramatic music]
[Mariana van Zeller] I spent much of the last week
waiting for this moment.
I think I was more scared than I wanted to admit.
The relief of finally getting out hits me,
along with the guilt of knowing that leaving
is not an option for everyone.
[tapping]
Somewhere down there are the gold miners I met,
and the people of Agadez,
and President Bazoum and his family,
still being held captive by unelected men who hold his fate
and the fate of a country in their hands.
[♪ emotional music]
[Kiari Liman-Tinguiri] This is something very,
very scary and very worrisome for the generation to come.
If I tell you that I see a bright future,
I wouldn't be honest.
I don't see any, for the time being,
I don't see any bright future.
Yeah.
[♪ intense music]