When the democratically elected President of Niger was overthrown in July 2023, the world watched as another fragile West African state fell to a military coup. Foreign missions scrambled. Embassies shut. Investments froze. The warning signs, however, weren’t invisible.
What Went Unnoticed
In the 60 days leading up to the coup, there were:
- Unusual troop movements in Niamey
- Rising anti-French sentiment on local media
- Disruptions in border control and logistics
- Social media chatter flagged “internal betrayal”
Unfortunately, most intelligence frameworks caught on after the event.
What Octopus Would Have Flagged
Using its real-time geopolitical intelligence engine, Octopus would have:
- Issued early warnings based on multi-source sentiment tracking (local chatter, HUMINT, OSINT)
- Scored Niger’s military reliability with updated metrics
- Mapped embassy risk using troop proximity analytics
- Recommended pre-emptive evacuation protocols to diplomatic staff and MNCs
Outcome?
Embassies could have minimized disruption. Investors could have hedged exposure. And most importantly — lives could have been saved.