FOCUS ON
NIGER
Click here to sign up for free weekly email
Email recaps are sent every Thursdays.
Sign up today
Niger: Mine blast kills seven soldiers in Diffa
Seven soldiers were killed on Friday after their vehicle hit a landmine in Niger's southeast Diffa region, where jihadist groups are active, according to an army statement broadcast on state radio. The blast took place around 0000 GMT just 400 metres from a military...
Niger: Niamey hit with crippling power outages
Niger's capital Niamey is suffering major power cuts linked to disruptions in the supply of electricity from neighbouring Nigeria, according to Nigelec, the country's sole supplier. Since June 10, repeated blackouts lasting several hours have hit the capital and its...
Niger: Sahara salt diggers struggle to maintain centuries-old trade
By Camille Laffont: At the edge of an oasis almost engulfed by the dunes, where the rare caravan still passes, is a desert landscape punctured by holes. The salt pans of Kalala, near Bilma in northeastern Niger, were once an essential stop for traders with their...
Nigeria: ISWAP ambushes army unit, kills several soldiers
Several Nigerian soldiers died in an attack on a military convoy in the Lake Chad region by jihadist fighters aligned with the Islamic State group, security forces said Tuesday. The convoy was hit by militants from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)...
Sahel: Over 16 million people need aid in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger
More than 16 million people affected by conflict and climate change in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger need humanitarian aid, according to an NGO report published on Monday. This represents a 172 percent rise on 2016, the US International Rescue Committee said in its...
Sahel: French uranium miner evacuates expatriate staff from Niger as security threats grow
French uranium miner Orano said on Friday it had evacuated expatriate staff from northern Niger after being warned of a threat in the jihadist-troubled region. The company late Thursday was advised of a "security event" in a village located halfway between the Malian...
Sahel: Thousands displaced by Niger conflict set to return
More than 18,000 people who have fled conflict in jihadist-hit western Niger are being given help to return as security for the area is beefed up, officials told AFP on Monday. "Some started heading back by themselves a couple of days ago and this morning a voluntary...
Sahel: Clashes between Niger army and Boko Haram continue along border with Nigeria
Niger's army said its troops had killed around 20 jihadists and arrested 83 others in an operation against militants on its southeastern border with Nigeria. Troops supported by air power attacked jihadists who have been using Matari forest in Nigeria as a rear base...
More releases of kidnapped persons in Sahel may signal easing of conflict between West and insurgents to focus on Russian threat
Photo: AQIM's Abu Ubaidah Youssef al-Annabi: Arezki's opinion: It may be too early to conclude that there is an easing of tension between Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and France, in particular. But there are some tidbits of evidence that suggest a potential...
Niger secures release of kidnapped French journalist Olivier Dubois and American aid worker Jeffery Woodke
By Camille Laffont: A French journalist and a US aid worker who had been kidnapped by jihadists in the Sahel have been released, an AFP journalist saw Monday. French freelancer Olivier Dubois and American aid worker Jeffery Woodke emerged from a plane that landed at...
Sahel’s children are facing extreme dangers, desperately need humanitarian help
By Robin Millard: Ten million children in west Africa's central Sahel region are now in "extreme jeopardy" and desperately need humanitarian help due to worsening violence, the United Nations warned Friday. The number of children in dire need of aid in Burkina Faso,...
Sahel: Secretary Blinken visits Niger as US worries about Russia’s expanding influence in the Sahel
By Shaun Tandon: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Niger on Thursday for a rare visit to a country seen as a bastion of support for Western military operations in a region where Russia is making inroads. Blinken is the first US official at this level to...
Sahel: Niger reports major offensive against Boko Haram near border with Nigeria
Jihadist-hit Niger last week killed about 30 members of the Boko Haram group and detained 960 followers, most of them women and children, who had fled neighbouring Nigeria, official sources said. State TV channel Tele Sahel said late Tuesday that on March 7 aerial...
Niger: Soldiers sent to prison for attempted coup
A Niger court on Friday handed prison terms ranging from two to 20 years to several soldiers accused of attempting to carry out a coup in 2021. In March, Niger's government said it had arrested several people for participating in a coup attempt, two days before...
Sahel: The sad plight of children in the Sahel’s conflict zones
By Amaury Hauchard: After fleeing the jihadists who threatened their remote village, Aichata Hassan had no idea that another mighty challenge lay ahead: proving to the authorities that her 12-year-old daughter existed. Like countless other children in Niger, Nadia has...
How the insurgents are expanding the Jihadist frontline to West Africa
By Patrick Markey and Kent Mensha: Standing near the dried river bed that marks Ghana's northern border, Alima can see her hamlet, lying in Burkina Faso less than two kilometres (1.2 miles) away. Even though her home is just a short walk away, she says she will never...
Sahel: Niger holds activist in air strike case
The head of a leading campaign group in Niger has been detained in a case involving an army air strike on suspected jihadists in the south of the country, prosecutors said. Abdoulaye Seydou, head of an activist group called M62, appeared before the Niamey criminal...
Sahel: Clash at Niger-Nigeria border leaves five Boko Haram fighters dead
Five Boko Haram jihadist fighters have been killed and two Niger soldiers wounded in clashes in southeast Niger near the Nigerian border, local authorities said Friday. The military clashed with the jihadist fighters in the towns of Bague and Tchoungoua in the Diffa...
Sahel: Three dead in Niger military helicopter crash
Three people died on Monday when a Nigerien military helicopter crashed on return from a routine training flight, the defence ministry said. The accident happened when the Russian-built Mi-17 crashed as it was landing at a military base at Niamey airport....
Niger has a non-existent economy despite uranium wealth
By Boureima Hama with Pierre Donadieu in Abidjan Prospects for the world's nuclear industry have been boosted by the war in Ukraine and mounting hostility towards climate-wrecking fossil fuels -- but Niger, one of the world's biggest sources of uranium, has yet to...
Connect
You can find us on a few social media platforms. Feel free to connect with us there.