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Sahel: Destruction and escalating death toll in flooded Niger
Deadly floods across Niger have left 57 people dead and affected more than 130,000 since they began in June, according to the latest government toll. Extreme weather is common in Niger, one of the world's poorest countries, but the capital and even desert areas in the...
Sahel: Kidnappings intensify in southeast Niger
Niamey, Sept 5, 2019 - At least 66 civilians were kidnapped in July in southeastern Niger near the border with Nigeria where the jihadist group Boko Haram is active, a UN source said Thursday. "At least 66 civilians including 44 women were abducted in July 2019 alone...
Sahel: Rainy season hits Niger hard
Niamey, Sept 4, 2019 (By Boureima Hama) - "That's it, time to go!" As a rising swell of muddy water creeps towards his house in Niger's capital Niamey, Mamoudou Barkire is finally leaving. Deadly floods have swamped several parts of the city and the rest of the...
Sahel: Boko Haram attacks village in Gueskerou, Nigeria, dozen killed
Niamey, Aug 24, 2019 - A night raid blamed on Boko Haram has left a dozen villagers dead in southeastern Niger on the frontier with Nigeria, a local official said Saturday. The attack on Friday night in the border district of Gueskerou, is the latest to hit the Diffa...
Sahel: Lake Chad nations want $100 million to fight global warming
Niamey, July 19, 2019 - The four countries bordering Lake Chad on Friday launched a fund aimed at collecting $100 million to help counter climate change and a devastating jihadist insurgency. West Africa's largest lake -- whose shoreline is shared by Cameroon, Chad,...
Sahel: Boat capsizes in Niger’s Goulbi River, kills 11 passengers
July 11, 2019 - Eleven people drowned Thursday when their boat capsized on a river in central Niger, the governor of the region told AFP. The accident happened near the town of Maradi, said governor Zakari Oumarou of the Maradi region near the border with Nigeria....
Sahel: 18 insurgents killed in Niger’s Tongo Tongo area over a ten-day campaign
Niamey, June 20, 2019 - Eighteen members of the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara were killed in a joint operation by US, French and Niger troops near Niger's border with Mali, the defence ministry said Tuesday. The June 8-18 operation took place "in the northern...
Sahel: IED hits US military vehicle near Ouallam, Niger
Washington, June 9, 2019 - A US military vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Niger, site of a deadly jihadist attack on American forces in 2017, the military announced Sunday. The Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle activated the bomb...
Niger Republic facing a Boko Haram onslaught
Comment by Arezki Daoud | 3 June 2019: Niger has now become the focal point of Boko Haram, plunging the Sahel into a more unstable region. With different insurgent and terror groups splitting and slicing the Sahel into their own fiefdoms, counter-terror there will...
Chaos and insecurity in the Sahel
May 25, 2019 - Jihadists are scoring gains in the Sahel, defying efforts by five countries in the fragile region to fight back with Western help against Islamist militancy. Areas of insecurity on the Sahara's poor, arid southern rim are widening, analysts say, even as...
Sahel: Death toll in ambush on Niger soldiers increases to 28
Update: May 17, 2019 (AFP) - The Islamic State group Thursday claimed an ambush on an army patrol in Niger that killed at least 28 troops. A military patrol was ambushed on Tuesday near the village of Tongo Tongo in the western Tillaberi region, near the Mali border,...
Sahel: Another ambush in Niger claims at least 17 soldiers
May 15, 2019 - Gunmen killed 17 Niger soldiers in an ambush near the border with Mali, a security source said Wednesday, adding 11 were still missing a day later. The attack occurred Tuesday near the village of Tongo Tongo in the western Tillaberi region where four US...
Niger: Niger says it foiled terror attack on prison near capital
Niger: Death toll in oil tanker explosion in Niamey reaches 58
Sahel: Boko Haram targets Niger’s Diffa region in new attacks
Niamey, April 10, 2019 - Several people have been taken hostage and a policeman killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants in a troubled region of southeastern Niger, a senior official told AFP on Wednesday. The jihadists, some of them believed to be wearing suicide...
Sahel: Three Nigerian poachers arrested in Niger with massive haul
Niamey, March 17, 2019 (AFP) - Three Nigerian poachers were arrested in Niger with a massive haul of slaughtered game from W National Park which straddles the borders of Niger, Burkina Faso and Benin, officials said Sunday. Forestry agents discovered elephant tusks,...
Sahel: Niger-Boko Haram conflict intensifies, scores killed in Diffa
Niamey, March 13, 2019 - Niger said Wednesday it had killed 33 Boko Haram "terrorists" and seized vehicles and weapons in an operation in the Lake Chad region in the country's southeast. "Offensive actions carried out on Tuesday inflicted heavy losses on the enemy,"...
Sahel: Bacteria infection kills thousands of donkeys in Niger
Niamey, March 1, 2019 - A contagious bacterial infection known as "equine strep throat" has killed more than 4,000 donkeys in northern Niger since early December, local officials said Friday. "Of the 8,392 donkeys affected by equine distemper or equine strep throat,...
Sahel: Expect more Danish soldiers in the Sahel
Copenhagen, Feb 28, 2019 - Denmark announced Thursday that it plans to send materiel and some troops to Africa to help support the French operation combatting jihadist groups in the Sahel. The government's plans, which must be approved by parliament, include sending...
Sahel: Growing concern over impact of climate change on the Sahel
Niamey, Feb 25, 2019 - Leaders of 17 countries on the rim of the Sahel began talks on Monday on a nearly $400-billion plan to help the fragile region cope with climate change. The 2018-30 scheme, covering countries ranging from Mauritania to the Horn of Africa, aims...
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