PREVIEW
Regional security in the Sahel is deteriorating amid claim and counter-claim
The diplomatic chill between the Sahelian military juntas and France grew colder over Christmas after Niger’s junta leader General Abdourahamane Tiani accused France of allying with militant groups, including Boko Haram, in the Lake Chad region to undermine his country’s security. This follows several recent deadly jihadist attacks around Niger’s tri-border region with Burkina Faso and Mali.
Tiani also claimed that France was paying Nigeria to set up terrorist operation centres in states bordering Niger, including Borno and Sokoto. In an interview on Christmas Day, Gen Tiani referred to a state visit by Nigeria's President Bola Tinubu to Paris in late November as a source of the conspiracy.
Nigeria’s Information Minister Mohammed Idris flatly denied the accusations which, he said, ‘exist solely in the realm of imagination.’ West Africa's regional bloc, The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas), which is currently chaired by Tinubu, has also angrily denied the claims which Joel Ahofodji, its spokesman, described as ‘unfounded and unsubstantiated.’
An Ecowas statement ‘refutes any suggestion that such a generous and magnanimous country would become a state sponsor of terrorism.’ In December, Ecowas leaders agreed to allow Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to withdraw from the bloc in January but gave them a six-month grace period in which to reconsider.
In any event, the claims and counter-claims will only deepen the isolation of Niger from its neighbours and the former colonial power. France closed its embassy in Niamey in August and has removed its troops from a long-running military deployment in Niger (Dispatches 26/9/23, Macron loses showdown with the Niamey junta).
In early December, meanwhile, French state nuclear company Orano announced that the junta had taken operational control of its local mining firm, Société des mines de l’Aïr (Somaïr), which had operated a uranium mining concession (AC Vol 65 No 23, Yellowcake shutdown).
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