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Niger’s military government has accused France of instigating the failed mutiny that hit its capital last week, saying it has compiled evidence and reserves the right to take the matter to international courts.

Getting into it: The accusation came in a statement read on state television Friday after a Council of Ministers meeting chaired by Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani. Government spokesperson Soumana Boubacar named Emmanuel Macron directly. “This operation, with its international ramifications, was instigated and sustained by a vast network of collusion headed by the French regime of Mr Macron,” he said. He described the mutineers as “traitorous and renegade elements, to whom promises of great things were made,” and said they were tasked with carrying out “unfulfilled ambitions of Macron and his cronies in our country.” He added that such maneuvers will always fail. Niger has not made its evidence public.

The mutiny started in the early hours of Aug. 29 with an attack on Base 101, the military installation that sits inside Niamey’s international airport complex. The soldiers took some of their colleagues prisoner and fired on a number of sensitive locations elsewhere in the capital. The presidential palace was targeted and the state broadcaster went dark, while gunfire and explosions ran on for hours. Hundreds of soldiers were involved, per state media, and dozens ended up dead or in custody. Russian paramilitaries from the Africa Corps fought alongside government troops to take the base back.

France has rejected the accusation outright. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said, “These are nothing but pure fantasies. There is neither intention nor means that France could have or would have used.”

Niger also pointed to African countries, saying they acted as go-betweens in the plot. In a video that ran on state television, a Nigerien air force captain named Benin, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire and the regional bloc ECOWAS as backers. All of them, Benin’s government included, say they had nothing to do with it. By contrast, Niamey reserved its thanks for Russia, Algeria, Mali and Burkina Faso.

This all comes as the mutiny, the most serious internal challenge Tiani has faced, exposes serious divisions inside Niger’s armed forces at a moment when terrorist organizations across the Sahel continue to ramp up attacks on civilians.