Source : Sahel weather September 2024 

Download the full Sahel weather report

More than a year after the military putsch that overthrew him, President Mohamed Bazoum and his wife are still being held in the Presidential Guard camp, where the former Commander was the main leader of the coup d'état of July 23, 2023. This detention has since been denounced by African leaders, the international community and human rights defenders. Recently, illustrious personalities including Nobel Prize winners such as Nigerian writer Wole Soyinka and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege have called for the release of the President of Niger, whose immunity has been lifted by a “Court of State” that has replaced the Council of State and the Court of Cassation.

One of the consequences of the military putsch was the withdrawal of American troops from Niger. This event marks a new page in U.S.-Niger cooperation, without breaking it. With this in mind , a delegation from the US Congress met Niger's Minister of State, Minister of the Interior and Public Security, on September 6, to discuss new bases and directions for bilateral cooperation, which should be further extended to other areas such as economic and social development, while respecting Niger's sovereignty.

Terrorist groups continue to decimate the population with targeted attacks on defense and security forces. A further 12 soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded in three attacks on the 15th, 16th and 17th in the east, west and north of the country. More than a hundred assailants were neutralized in the retaliation, and among the targets of the criminal groups were the military camp and gendarmerie post in the Chirfa locality, in Agadez towards the Libyan border. Nevertheless, on September 16, four terrorists were arrested in Tillabéry, in the tri-border area in the southwest of the country, as part of a reconnaissance mission carried out by the defense and security forces. They were handed over to the anti-terrorist unit for further investigation and legal proceedings. In addition, as part of Operation Lankal kaney, a mission specifically dedicated to securing agricultural activities, the deployment of defense and security forces in TiIlabéri resulted in the recovery of 220 head of cattle and the neutralization of some 60 terrorists and a spy.

As a reminder, Niger, like several other Sahelian countries, faces recurrent attacks from terrorist groups. Despite the creation of the Confederation of Sahel States, the security threat still hangs over the country. To combat terrorism more effectively, the government set up a national file at the end of August, under which individuals and entities will have their financial assets frozen, and will be forbidden to leave or travel within the country. These measures testify to Niger's commitment to use all possible means to guarantee peace and stability in the face of multifaceted security threats.

The other news item that has shaken Niger in recent weeks is the mysterious disappearance of Ivorian journalist Serge Marthurien Adou on August 31, and the recent news of his arrest by the Niger police. A sports correspondent for the BBC and journalist with Canal 3, Adou had received a summons from the judicial police, to which he responded, before not being heard from again for weeks. Reactions continued to mount, culminating in the revelation by Burkina Faso's Minister of Security, Mouhamadou SANA, that the journalist was involved in a project to destabilize the Sahel region.

The Union des Journalistes de la Presse Libre Africaine and the Union Nationale des Journalistes de Côte d'Ivoire had expressed their concern at this unprecedented event, but the Cadre d'Action des Professionnels du Médias au Niger, in its latest communiqué, deemed it necessary to show no support for their colleague until he has been cleared. For its part, the Ivorian government has announced that it has taken the matter into its own hands.

The Ivorian and Nigerian authorities, who have been officially seized, are closely monitoring this case, which continues to dominate the headlines, and risks testing diplomatic relations between Côte d'Ivoire and the Alliance of Sahel States, Niger and Burkina Faso in particular, but also between Niger and Burkina Faso.

Other rather tense diplomatic relations concern Nigeria, with which Niger had become somewhat estranged since the July 2023 coup d'état that brought General Tiani to power. However, the security situation in the region and the various challenges that the two countries have in common call for a strategic and privileged partnership. The high-level meeting held at the end of August between the Nigerian Chief of Staff, General Christopher Musa, and his counterpart from Niger, General Moussa Salaou Barmou, is part of this effort tonormalize relations between Niamey and Abuja. The two countries stressed “ the need to maintain and expand existing cooperation, including joint military operations, intelligence sharing and tactical coordination ”. The resumption of this close cooperation is all the more relevant given that, together with Chad and Cameroon, they form the Joint Multinational Force (JMF), a body dedicated to combating financial crime and terrorism.