Tag Archives: Niger

President Mahamadou Issoufou said Niger is ready to help Mali retake areas seized by Islamists this spring. Issoufou and Malian president Dioncounda Traore called on the UN to endorse a planned military intervention in Mali, and urged Malian rebel movements to lay down their arms, sever ties with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and […]

Gunmen kidnapped five aid workers and their driver in southeast Niger and headed for the Agadez region near the Malian border. Arabic was spoken by the gunmen. Al Qaeda-linked militants are suspected in the kidnapping.

The Justice Minister called for joint patrols with Nigerian forces along Niger’s southern border to keep al Qaeda-linked insurgents out of Niger. Currently 3,000 Nigerien troops are deployed near the border with Mali, Algeria, and Libya, and special forces monitor the border with Nigeria. Five Boko Haram fighters were recently arrested in Zinder.

Security officials say militants from the al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram in Nigeria are transitting through Niger on their way to fight with Ansar Dine in Mali. Officials are concerned about the threat of radical Islam as Niger suffers increasing pressure from regional turmoil. US special forces are helping train Nigerien troops.

The European Union deployed a Capacity Building Mission team to Niger to help combat the spread of Islamist terror groups in the Sahel region. The 50-man-strong EUCAP team is described as a civilian mission, but includes military advisers.

The European Union will send 50 experts to Niger to train its security forces to counter the emerging al Qaeda threat in Africa’s Sahel region. Niger, a major uranium exporter, needs assistance securing its border with Mali, where Islamists have seized half the country.