A charred all-terrain vehicle, riddled with bullets, doors open. Around, eight lifeless bodies, probably summarily executed, including those of six French and a Nigerien members of the NGO Acted, and their guide, also Nigerien. Leaving the capital of Niger Niamey, Sunday, October 9, no one suspected the risks incurred by going to observe the last peralta giraffes, established in the Kouré reserve, an hour's drive to the South-East.
"We all go to Kouré for a weekend outing, because it's very easy to get to. Everyone goes, even the ambassadors, diplomats, teachers, everyone! everything considered as dangerous as an area, "a Western humanitarian based in Niamey told AFP. Before the attack, the French Foreign Ministry also kept the area in yellow, for "enhanced vigilance", and therefore did not advise against going there, unlike a large part of the country to the north and to the west of the capital.
Like its Burkinabè and Malian neighbors, since 2015 Niger has suffered the increasing security degradation affecting the Sahel, due to the lasting establishment, mainly in Mali, of a myriad of jihadist or rebel groups, drug traffickers, and interethnic or religious clashes. recurring. The north and west of the Tillabéri region, in the so-called "three borders" area between the three countries, is usually the hardest hit, especially by the organization Islamic State in the Great Sahara (EIGS), one of the most important terrorist groups operating in the area. In two attacks in December 2019 and January 2020, 160 Nigerien soldiers were killed in the region by men in pickups and motorcycles, having fled to Mali. But Niamey and the entire region to the south-east of the capital had been spared. Until Sunday.
Niger: terrorist attacks on the rise since 2015
"All eyes are naturally on the Islamic State organization"
After the Pau summit, which brought together on January 13, 2020 French President Emmanuel Macron and his counterparts from the G5 Sahel (Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad and Mauritania) and an agreement to continue France's engagement in the region , through the Barkhane force, Paris increased its military presence from 4,500 to 5,100 soldiers. Strategic strikes have intensified, especially against EIGS bases, giving hope for a "lull in the region", according to Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella, the governor of Tillabéri. "The strategy has been reinvented, and Barkhane has resized his strength and his strategy. Success has been achieved. By carrying out this attack only 70 km from Niamey, the jihadists wanted to show that they still retained an operational capacity, because it 'is far from their bases, and that the threat is far from being eradicated, "said RFI Seidik Abba, Nigerien essayist and journalist.
>> To read: The G5 Sahel and France meet in Mauritania to fight against jihadism
According to sources from France 24 journalist Wassim Nasr, Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has denied involvement in Sunday's attack. The modus operandi rather indicates an action of the EIGS, born in 2015 in Mali. According to International Crisis Group analyst Matthieu Pellerin, interviewed on RFI, "all eyes are naturally on the [organization] Islamic State", weakened by the hunt for Barkhane and American drones positioned in Agadez, in the desert Nigerien, but always active and quick to react. The researcher notes a "gradual encirclement of Niamey since 2019, with a progression of jihadist groups operating in the north and even the south of Tillabéri, towards the border with Nigeria". It is in the north-east of the latter country that Boko Haram operates, which declared allegiance to the Islamic State organization in 2015 before becoming the Islamic State in West Africa (EIAO) organization and be joined in 2019 by the EIGS.
Jihadist violence, mixed with inter-community conflicts, killed at least 4,000 people in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso in 2019, according to the UN. The G5 Sahel joint military force, launched in 2017 under the auspices of France, has yet to prove its effectiveness and does not seem able to stem the advance of jihadist groups towards the south of Burkina Faso, the north of the Côte d'Ivoire, northern Benin, southern Mali and northwestern Nigeria, caught between Boko Haram and Sahelian terrorist groups, believes Matthieu Pellerin. "This indicates that the G5 Sahel model is already somewhat outdated. And we can clearly see, since the start of the year, an intensification of operations by West African countries in areas considered to be relatively spared. C 'is worrying for the future. "
The summary of the week France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribeTake international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 application
google-play-badge_FR