Terror Attack in Southwest Niger Kills 69
Islamic State in the Greater Sahara militants stand at the Niger-Mali border. (Wikimedia)
A jihadist group killed at least 69 Niger citizens on November 2, including the mayor of Adab-Dab—a village in the southwestern province of Tillaberi. The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) carried out the attack. ISGS is one of the many terrorist groups that operate in the “tri-zone” on the borders of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
ISGS targeted the mayor due to his involvement with a local self-defense militia, which he and other villagers created after farmers and cattle in the area were attacked by ISGS. The group was searching for ISGS jihadists when they were ambushed. Only 15 members of the mayor’s party survived the attack. The ISGS fighters escaped the area and crossed the border into Mali shortly afterward.
On November 4, the government declared two days of mourning for the victims. They stated that a massive search operation was underway to find those responsible. However, on the same day, another attack in the region led to the death of 11 Nigerien soldiers.
The violence has stripped civilians of access to medical and food supplies, and hundreds of thousands have fled to the capital city of Niamey. The influx of refugees is flooding a support system already overwhelmed by refugees fleeing political instability and ISGS attacks in Nigeria, Mali, and Libya. The attacks have also impacted agricultural production, which is extremely important in Niger; 1.9 million people face food insecurity, but this number will likely increase as more rural farmers flee to the safety of larger towns and cities.
The attacks represent a pattern of violence in Tillaberi throughout the last year. In 2021, more than 530 people have been killed by armed groups. This number is five times greater than it was in 2020. The increasing violence is despite the efforts of the G5 Sahel force, set up by Niger, Chad, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania in 2017, as a means of coordinating security against terrorist groups across borders in the region. In a UN Security Council meeting on November 12, UN Peacekeeping Chief Jean-Pierre Lacroix said that the countries need “equipment, training, and advisory support for critical capability gaps.” He believes the region is close to falling back into the chaos of the pre-2017 era.
However, the United States and other Security Council members are not supportive of using UN forces to support the G5 Sahel force. Instead, they want to use a holistic approach to confront poverty and other root causes of violence to address the terrorist threat.