Niger: new massacre of villagers in the Diffa region thanks to the drop in the waters of Lake Chad

The Yobé River, known as Komadougou Yobé, near Diffa (illustration).

ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP

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2 mins

In Niger, around twenty villagers were killed on the night of March 7 to 8, 2022 in the Diffa region, in the far east of the country.

Incursions by Boko Haram men in several villages have sown desolation.

The attackers would have taken advantage of the drying up of the waters of Lake Chad to cross on foot, reach the villages and massacre the inhabitants. 

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with our correspondent in Niamey,

At least five villages have been victims of night attacks by armed

men in the bed of Lake Chad, not far from the town of Diffa.

The twenty dead are distributed between the villages of Lada, Assaga, Ngarwa, Fiego and Belatumbé.

The injured, the number of which was not specified, were admitted to hospitals.

According to regional sources, the attackers, divided into several groups, crossed the dried-up Komadougou Yobé river on foot and on horseback, before attacking the villages and kidnapping a woman in Fiego.

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The death of the villagers shocked the populations, it even created a panic in the village of Lada, located only 4km from the town of Diffa.

These incursions by Boko Haram elements into the villages located on the shores of Lake Chad are predictable according to security experts, with the drying up of the waters of the Komadougou Yobé, the border which separates Niger and Nigeria in this part is porous: the crossing is done on foot or on horseback and at any time.

This will be the case until the return of high waters next July.

A thousand young people are recruited in the Diffa region after their training, they will come to reinforce the army in the security system of the villages bordering the Komadougou Yobé.

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• Niger

• Terrorism

• Boko Haram