Queen Sarraounia: Hausa guerrilla warrior who took on barbaric France, by Owei Lakemfa

Niger Republic was rocked by an attempted coup from August 29 to 30, 2026. The plotters invaded the Diori Hamani International Airport, where Air Base 101 is stationed. They also stormed the state broadcaster and the presidential palace.

They were defeated, and the populace took to the streets in protest against the attempt to return France to its position of dominance in the country. France had, in 1898, invaded, destroyed and colonised territories that now constitute Niger Republic. It virtually dictated to that country for 125 years until the 2023 coup led by General Abdourahamane Tiani.

Interestingly, it was in Niger Republic that France met one of the stiffest resistances to its military colonisation of Africa. That resistance, which also exposed one of France’s most bestial expeditions, was led by Queen Sarraounia Mangou, leader, priestess and military commander of the Hausa Azna nation. Before invading Azna, France had subjugated Algeria and Tunisia in North Africa; Gabon and French Congo in Central Africa; Madagascar and Djibouti in the East; and Mali, Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Benin Republic in West Africa. In 1898, it set out on one of its most brutal campaigns to seize the Chad Basin, including Niger.

To do so, France sent out its Central African-Chad Mission, or Voulet–Chanoine Mission.

It set out from conquered Senegal in November 1898. It was fused with two other missions: the Gentil, which advanced from Congo, and the Foureau-Lamy, which came in from Algeria. It was led by bestial military leaders for whom human life, especially African life, meant little or nothing. In command was Captain Paul Voulet, who was reputed in the army as a human vampire with “a true love of blood and cruelty coupled with a sometimes foolish sensitivity”. His Adjutant Lieutenant, Julien Chanoine, was reputed as being “cruel out of cold-bloodedness as well as for pleasure”. Both officers had apparently been deliberately paired, as they had shown their level of depravity back in 1896 when they laid waste to the Mossi Kingdoms, including Ouagadougou, the capital. The officers were deliberately given vague orders on how to carry out the mission of bringing the African territories “under French protection”.

The Minister of Colonies, Andre Lebon, told them: “I don’t pretend to be able to give you any instructions on which route to choose or how you are to behave towards the native chieftains.” The officers saw their mission as the annihilation of peoples, including the burning down of villages and towns on their path. They left in their trail destruction and massacres, regardless of the age and gender of their victims. When, on January 8, 1898, some soldiers were wounded in the village of Sansanné-Haoussa, the French officers, in retaliation, executed 101 persons, including thirty women and children. Their bestiality preceded them, and the various territories on their path simply surrendered. So, they were shocked when Sarraounia, who led just six Hausa villages, refused to surrender to the heavily armed French army of 2,000.

As the furious French army marched towards Azna, she moved the women and children into the dense forest. The battles went on for months until April 16, 1899, when, at the Battle of Lougou, the French were victorious—or so they thought.

But Sarraounia and her army did not surrender. Rather, they melted into the thick forests, where they began a guerrilla war that was to force the French into retreat, destroy the morale of its army and lead to mutiny.

The French military was faced with a seemingly invisible Azna army that attacked at will, food shortages, growing restlessness and frustration in finding Sarraounia.

So, the pursuit was abandoned because even some of the Africans in the French military had begun to believe that she was indeed a spirit. The reports of the bestiality of the French military had also started circulating in France, and a diplomatic dispute with Britain was brewing, as the French expedition was also carrying out its brutality in Sokoto, which was British territory. A decision was taken to change the leadership. Governor-General of French Sudan, Colonel Vimard, was instructed to have them replaced.

The French Governor of Timbuktu, Klobb, was appointed to take over the command.

In his book, Exterminate All the Brutes, S. Lindqvist reported that when Klobb went to replace the officers, he found: “a trail of burned villages and charred corpses. He passed trees where women had been hanged, and cooking fires where children had been roasted. He also found the corpses of the expedition’s guides; those that had displeased Voulet had been strung up alive in a position that the foot went to the hyenas and the rest of the body to the vultures.” Meanwhile, the French officers continued their mindless massacres. In reaction to the sustained guerrilla warfare of Sarraounia, the French, led by Voulet, massacred thousands of persons on May 8, 1899, including wiping out the village of Birni-N’Konni.

Even by the brutal standards of French colonialism, this was one of the most brutal massacres in its history. When, after being on the trail of the French Mission for about 2,000 kilometres, Klobb caught up with it on July 10, 1899, he sent Voulet a letter informing him of his replacement and recall home. But Voulet replied that Klobb had only fifty guns, while he had 600, and would not hesitate to use them if Klobb dared come to his base. Then, Voulet went on with the massacres. On July 13, 1899, the French military, in retaliation for two of its soldiers killed by a villager, executed 150 women and children. Klobb appeared at the French base in full-dress uniform. He addressed the Mission, reminding the soldiers of their duties to the military and country. Voulet ordered his men to shoot Klobb. They did. When he did not die immediately, another salvo was released, killing him. After Klobb’s assassination, Voulet declared: “I’m no longer a Frenchman; I’m a Black chief. With you, I will found an empire.”

On July 16, 1899, Voulet and Chanoine assembled the soldiers, told them that duty was to obey orders, and released some shots. A Senegalese soldier then shot Chanoine dead. Voulet escaped but returned the next morning and was killed by the sentry. The new commander, Lieutenant Pallier, tried to continue the Mission but was forced to rescind his decision as the soldiers threatened mutiny. Queen Sarraounia Mangou was never found. But the locals believed she had used her spiritual powers to confuse the French invaders, cause the officers to execute one of their own, and make the soldiers turn their service weapons on their officers. The French were so ashamed of their war against the African Queen that, for a century, they tried to blank her out of history. But, as you can see, they failed.