Niger: children directly victims of terrorist violence, according to Amnesty report
Niger, Songhai village, Tillaberi region (illustration) De Agostini via Getty Images - DEA / N. CIRANI
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
In Niger, children are at the heart of terrorist violence, in the Tillabéri region, in the south-west of the country.
These are the conclusions of a report published this Monday, September 13, by the NGO Amnesty International.
Undernourishment, dropping out of school, recruiting ... Children are suffering the full brunt of this security crisis.
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The Tillabéri region is under the yoke of two armed groups: the Support Group for Islam and Muslims - JNIM in its Arabic acronym - which strikes along the Burkinabè border, and the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, which is rife. between Mali and Niger.
Terrorist violence has already killed 544 people in this region during the first six months of the year.
Extortion, intimidation, cattle theft, attacks on villages, burning of granaries ... The list of daily ills suffered by the inhabitants of Tillabéri is long.
Children are the direct victims.
According to Amnesty International's report, out of more than 300 civilians killed near the Malian border in the first quarter of 2021, 46 were minors between the ages of 5 and 17.
Impossible to grow normally under these conditions.
The recurrent attacks on the villages deprive the children of Tillabéri of a sufficient and balanced diet.
For example, a 15-year-old girl living in Ngaba testifies that she has eaten only once a day since the attack on her village.
As for the school, considered by the terrorists as a Western import, it is already only a memory ... In June, Amnesty counted 377 schools closed in Tillabéri, that is to say nearly 32,000 out-of-school students.
In its report, the NGO evokes the psychosocial consequences of this safe environment, devastating for children in the region who do not have access to care.
A situation that this 13-year-old sums up as follows: “We are all used to hearing gunshots and seeing the dead piled up.
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The recruitment of children by armed groups
Among the dangers faced by the children of Tillabéri, there is also that of recruitment by armed terrorist groups.
During its investigation, Amnesty International was able to demonstrate that JNIM enlists children in its ranks.
They are young people aged, for the most part, from 15 to 17 years old who undergo training or go into the bush with jihadist groups to undergo training sessions with them.
Ousmane Diallo, Sahel researcher at Amnesty International's regional office.
Gaelle Laleix
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Niger
Terrorism