Niger: two days of national mourning after the massacre of 69 people near Banibangou
Niger army soldier on patrol.
(Illustrative photo) ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
1 min
The Nigerien authorities confirmed, Thursday, November 4, the death of 69 civilians in the Tillabéry region, in a jihadist ambush, which occurred on Tuesday, November 2.
Among the victims is the mayor of Banibangou.
48 hours of mourning is decreed throughout the territory.
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A two-day national mourning was decreed from Friday throughout Niger, after the confirmation of the death of 69 people among civilians in the Tillabéry region.
The remains were found by security forces who had been looking for them since Tuesday.
The mayor of Banibangou is among the victims.
His family and local authorities confirmed this.
Tuesday, November 2, he led a convoy of 84 villagers who had formed a vigilance committee.
The members of this committee were armed, which is prohibited by law, and while officially, there is no militia in Niger.
“
The communities think that the power has taken too long to be deployed to secure them.
They therefore gave themselves the right to form themselves into self-defense militias.
The establishment of a vigilance committee to defend the communities raises the question of the functioning of this committee,
”explains Abbas Abdoul Moumouni, a Nigerien governance specialist.
The mayor and the villagers were on their way on about 40 motorcycles when they were
ambushed by
heavily armed
fighters
from EIGS, the Islamic State group in the Greater Sahara.
The attack took place near the town of Adab Dab about fifty kilometers from Banibangou.
After the ambush, the attackers returned to Mali with their wounded.
15 of the civilians from the attacked convoy were able to return to their villages safe and sound.
This zone of the “three borders” is regularly the object of jihadist attacks against the villagers, who try to organize their defense with few means.
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Niger
Sahel
Terrorism