The Foreign Office continues to advise against all travel to Niger, and on 29 August 2026 it updated its travel advice after reports of gunfire in the capital. The FCDO notes reports of gunfire early in the morning on 29 August near the Presidential Palace and Diori Hamani International airport in Niamey, and warns that the road between central Niamey and the airport may have more security checkpoints and possible short-notice travel disruptions.
This is not an isolated event. In its safety and security advice the FCDO records earlier incidents near the same airport this year, with gunfire and explosions reported on 29 January 2026 and heavy gunfire on 18 June 2026, which makes the 29 August incident at least the third near Niamey's airport in 2026 and the first to also name the Presidential Palace. The wider threat picture is severe. The FCDO assesses that terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Niger, with frequent attacks across the country and particularly in the Diffa and Tillabéri regions, and names groups including Jama'a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin, known as JNIM, Islamic State and Boko Haram. It assesses a very high threat of kidnapping throughout Niger, including Niamey, and warns that British nationals are seen as legitimate targets, including tourists, humanitarian aid workers, journalists and business travellers.
For close protection and travel-risk planning, the operational read is direct. Treat all travel to Niger as against FCDO advice and build any plan on that basis. Repeated armed incidents at the main air gateway, and now the seat of government, point to fragile control of the capital and a live risk to the airport corridor, the one chokepoint almost every protective movement depends on. Where a presence cannot be avoided, harden airport transfers, plan for no-notice checkpoints and disruption on the airport road, keep profiles low and movement unpredictable, and assume commercial air egress can be interrupted at short notice. Treat Niamey, not only the border regions, as a kidnap-target environment for Western nationals.
