Niger to Withdraw from Key Counterterrorist Mission

Islamist terrorist groups control much of northern Nigeria and southern Niger, maintaining troops and coercing communities into serving their forces. (Wikimedia Commons)

Niger announced withdrawal from a key counterterrorism task force at the start of April, putting regional stability in jeopardy in the Sahel. 

The Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) combats Islamist terrorist groups in West Africa’s Lake Chad region, per DW. Niger announced its withdrawal on a state bulletin, citing the need to protect its national interests following terrorist attacks on mosques and 80 percent of critical oil infrastructure in the south, reports Reuters. The UN reports that the country is already suffering from high inflation and debt from dropping oil prices. With Niger gone, the MNTJF has only four members to protect the region from various shared threats: Benin, Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria.

The Lake Chad region is a crucial base for terrorist groups because of its porous borders that facilitate transport of contraband goods and troops, writes DW. The UN increasingly stresses the dire humanitarian crisis facing countries in the region. Over 2.8 million are displaced, 1.7 million of which are children. An additional nine million need help. Unemployment is high, and poverty levels are devastating. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) describes that the region is especially hard hit by the effects of climate change; temperatures are rising 1.5 times faster than in the rest of the world. Different ethnic groups—the indigenous Yerina and Kanuri as well as Hausa migrants—fight over the scarce resources and land that remain, reports Refugees International. The inability to rely on their government for goods provision amidst these harrowing conditions has radicalized youth, causing them to turn to extremist Islamist groups for support. 

One of the biggest threats for the Lake Chad region is Boko Haram. Originally called “Jama‘atu Ahl as-Sunnah li-Da‘awati wal-Jihad” (JASDJ; Group of the Sunni People for the Calling and Jihad), the group rebranded itself in 2015 as the Islamist State of West African Province (ISWAP). Most westerners and non-jihadist groups refer to them with the Nigerian name Boko Haram, which literally means “western education is forbidden.” Started in Nigeria in 2002 by Muhammed Yusuf, the group became more extremist after his death in 2009 and spread to neighboring countries in 2011, gaining notoriety for abducting nearly 400 Nigerian girls, raping them, and using them as suicide bombers, according to the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs. Per DefensePost, over 40,000 people have died and two million are displaced due to their terrorist attack. Boko Haram still controls the north of Nigeria and south of Niger surrounding the Lake Chad Basin, reports CFR. 

The MNJTF splits up the Lake Chad region into four different sectors, and Niger, Cameroon, Chad, and Nigeria all monitor terrorism activity in their sector, writes DW. Niger oversaw sector four (Diffa) and supplied over 1,000 troops for military intelligence and surveillance. Without Niger’s cooperation, Diffa northwestern Lake Chad is left unprotected to jihadist groups who will take advantage of the security gaps to transport more troops and further exploit vulnerable communities. Ulf Laessing, the director of the Sahel programme at German think tank Konrad Adenauer Foundation told the Guardian that Niger’s withdrawal was “good news for jihadists and it is bad news for villagers on the lake side, fishers or farmers who just want to go about their business but who will now get less military support”.

Analysts surmise that division and poor coordination between MNJTF members impaired their success even before Niger withdrew from the task force, per the Guardian. Cameroon had even threatened to withdraw in 2024. That said, Niger had additional reasons to leave the task force. Niger’s military junta that overthrew democratic President Mohamed Bazoun in 2023 has yet to make good on its promise to restore order to the country. Instead, junta leader Abdourahmane Tiani was sworn in as president until 2030, just days before the declaration to withdraw. He suspended all political parties and the constitution shortly afterward. The junta has also positioned itself against its former colonial power, France, requiring that all French troops leave its borders and stepping out of the French language organization OIF, per RFI. MNJTF had both French and U.S. support, reports CFR, and some analysts suggest Niger left to increase its rift from former colonies whereas others suggest they did to distance itself from Nigeria, who they accuse of funding terrorist and purposefully creating instability in Niger, states People’s Gazette. 

Niger also recently left ECOWAS, the union between west African states, distancing itself from its former allies including the others in the Lake Chad Basin, per Reuters. Instead, Niger has aligned itself with Mali and Burkina Faso, two junta-controlled states that similar to Niger aim to rid themselves of French influence. The three states have formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), changing their regimes to exclude ECOWAS passport requirements and levying fines on imported goods from other west African countries, per AA. Following Niger’s withdrawal, the AES also created their own task force against Boko Haram, pledging 5,000 soldiers between them. In a statement provided to The Caravel by Professor Géraud Magrin of Political Geography at Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne University, “the AES alliance is hardly effective in the Lake Chad region, which is very far from Mali and Burkina Faso.” 

The success of this new task force is still uncertain, but what is clear is that the safety of the most vulnerable communities relies on the MNJTF and AES members finding a way to communicate on resolving socio-economic problems in Lake Chad and keep peace, per DW. “Military solutions alone are illusory,” says Dr. Magrin, but just one approach that will ultimately take political and community action.