Niger fights terrorism amid positive UN indicators
The Republic of Niger in West Africa
is heading towards positive indicators in the fight against terrorism,
according to international views in this regard. On October 26, the United Nations
praised the progress made by the country’s government in the file of extremist
groups, stressing its continued support for the country and the African Sahel
region in general.
Niger hosted a UN delegation to
discuss the country's strategy in dealing with the effects of the presence of
extremist groups in the region and how to combat them. Therefore, the positive
assessments of Niger's trends regarding the terrorism file mean an improvement
in the international outlook towards the government and President Mohamed
Bazoum.
Geographical
challenges
Niger is negatively affected by its
geographical positioning at the epicenter of the spread of terrorism in the
African continent, as it shares its borders with Mali and Burkina Faso, which
have the influence of al-Qaeda terrorist, and it also has a common border with
Nigeria, where the terrorist branch of Boko Haram controls. Hence, the country
faces major challenges in securing its borders and repelling the extremist
tide.
Niger suffered many terrorist attacks
across its common borders with its neighbors. In August, the country lost 15
soldiers and six civilians as a result of a bloody operation that took place on
the nearby border with Burkina Faso.
On August 17, the country lost at
least 37 people, including four women and 13 children, in an attack in a
village near Mali, in addition to the ISIS branch of Boko Haram implementing
several attacks in Niger, as the terrorist organization carried out an attack
on March 25 in the south of the country, killing about ten people, while three
people lost their lives as a result of ISIS burning a school during an attack
in the village of Zabyani.
The negative effects of Niger’s
geography do not stop with the terrorist tide of extremist groups seeking to
annex the country to their areas of influence, but they extend to include the
country’s borders standing as a dangerous contact point for the suspicious
trade of groups spreading on the borders between them, in addition to the need
for these groups to maintain geographical contact with each other, which
doubles the security crisis for Niger.
Political
stability and repercussions on terrorism
The views of the UN Committee on
Niger give positive indicators towards the government’s performance, which
indicates the repercussions of political stability and the peaceful transfer of
power on the security conditions of countries. In February, the country
witnessed stable elections during which power was transferred from Mahamadou
Issoufou to Bazoum.
Despite the country’s suffering from
terrorist attacks during the election period, political stability in and of
itself remains a guarantee that the security crisis will not exacerbate despite
its persistence.
In this regard, the Institute for
Economics and Peace in Sydney said that political turmoil is the most prominent
factor that gives terrorist currents a fertile environment for their spread.
In addition to the optimistic
reference from the United Nations towards the situation of terrorism in Niger,
the periodic follow-ups and numbers reported on the attacks in the country
indicate a continuity in the implementation of attacks, indicating a weakness
in the security services, with which it is possible that the UN’s vision is
limited to improvement rates and not the general situation that dominates
Niger.
