By RFIPosted on 26-12-2019Changed on 26-12-2019 at 23:42
The Nigerian army is again in mourning, following an attack on Wednesday in the Tillabéri region, in the west of the country. According to the authorities, fourteen soldiers were killed in an attack by "heavily armed terrorists".
Agents of the Independent Electoral Commission (CENI) were returning from a recruitment operation in remote villages, for the presidential and legislative elections next year. But on its way, the escort who supervises this team fell on an ambush, tended by " heavily armed terrorists ", according to the press release from the Interior Ministry.
According to the authorities, " a fierce battle " followed. There were several victims: seven gendarmes and seven national guards lost their lives. A guard is missing. Many assailants were reportedly killed, the Interior Ministry said, without specifying the exact number of victims.
If the civil agents of the CENI are them, returned safe and sound in the locality of Sanam, this episode highlights a problem: " this shows the difficulties that the local authorities are facing to organize the 2020 elections ", observes an observer , who wonders “ will we be able to enlist all voters ? "
" This new attack demonstrates the power of terrorist groups, which want to assert themselves in the area of the three borders, " explains Baba Dakono, a researcher at the Institute for Studies and Security. And this, at the risk of seeing security issues obscure themes such as that of human rights and the social crisis, at the time of elections next year.
This new attack comes just days after the Nigerian president pleaded for " more Barkhane " in the Sahel to deal with better equipped terrorist groups.
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