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IRIN hat geschrieben: NIGER: Rebels accused of launching Iraq-inspired "urban terror" campaign

DAKAR, 11 December 2007 (IRIN) - A rebel movement that has already cut northern Niger off from humanitarian aid by laying mines throughout the region has denied responsibility for landmine explosions in Maradi and Tahoua in the south.

Two civilians were killed in the nearly simultaneous anti-tank mine explosions which occured between 9pm and 11pm on 10 December.

According to sources in Maradi where an anti-tank mine exploded under a civilian truck, one person died and two others were wounded. Maradi is 400 km south of the northern capital Agadez which up until December marked the southernmost limit of violence in Niger.

In Tahoua, 350 km south-east of Agadez, sources said one person was killed and one wounded when another anti-tank mine went off under a civilian vehicle.

Both towns serve as hubs for aid agencies which are mainly running nutrition projects in Niger. The attacks were also reported on Nigerien state radio on 11 December.

Urban terror plot

Sources said residents in Maradi and Tahoua are blaming the Nigerien Movement for Justice (MNJ) which has been fighting government forces in northern Niger since February.

According to the Reuters news agency, Niger's government warned last month that the MNJ rebel group was plotting a campaign of "urban terror" in Niger as part of its fight to secure political and economic autonomy for the north of the country.

Moktar Roman, MNJ spokesperson based in Belgium, denied the group is targeting civilians and said it was not behind the blasts.

"There is no element of the MNJ that would target civilians," he said, blaming the army instead. "The army did this to turn public opinion in their favour."

So far no group has claimed responsibility for the explosions.

New territory

Until this month when two mine explosions were reported on roads running south of Agadez, violence in Niger had been restricted to the sparsely populated north of the country, where the Nigerien army has been deployed in strength.

Northern Niger is also made insecure by armed bandits and drug smugglers, which the government has accused of being behind all of the violence as it rejects that there is a rebellion taking place on its territory.

However according to several human rights groups in Niger, it is the MNJ that is behind the mine-laying there, with civilians being paid to lay the mines and a premium being offered if it hits an army vehicle. The method means the MNJ in practice has little oversight over where its mines are placed, the rights groups say.

Military approach in question

Jason Mosely, Africa editor at the British global strategic consultancy Oxford Analytica, said the explosions are a sign that the Niger government's pursuit of a military approach to end the violence in the country is not working.

"I doubt this really represents a widening of the conflict," he said. "I don't think we're returning to a 1990s level of violence just yet," he added, referring to five years of instability in northern Niger between 1990 and 1995 that scattered hundreds of thousands of Nigerien refugees around the region.

"But it does show Niger's approach is not paying dividends as they pursue a robust military and rhetorical response instead of pursuing engagement as has worked for the government in Mali."

Iraq tactics

The bombings in Tahoua and Maradi might signal the anti-government elements in Niger are drawing their tactics from the Iraq insurgency, Mosely said.

"In the aftermath of the Iraq insurgency the use of these kinds of high-profile, high-impact attacks that are indiscriminate and end up killing civilians does seem to be spreading in countries where you would not previously have expected it."

"Niger's rebels are not necessarily the strongest force there is, but these kinds of attacks have a significant impact because they're so targeted and atrocious."

According to Reuters, on 21 November Nigerien police foiled an attempt to detonate an anti-tank mine in a fuel depot in the town of Dosso, 140km east of the capital Niamey.

Agencies present

Most major UN offices and NGOs working in Niger have a presence in Maradi, a busy trading town at the heart of a region of 2.2 million people and close to the border with Nigeria.

Tahoua is the capital of a region of 2 million people where the UN World Food Programme and NGOs including Concern, Action Against Hunger, Médecins Sans Frontières, Medecins du Monde, and World Vision work.

Humanitarian sources in both towns said business had returned to normal on 11 December, traffic was circulating as usual, and aid agencies on the ground were still conducting missions in both regions.

IRIN hat geschrieben: NIGER: Army, rebels commit abuses against civilians, rights groups say

Rights advocates accuse the Niger army of destroying livestock owned by Touaregs
DAKAR, 20 December 2007 (IRIN) - The Nigerien army and rebels in the country have yet to formally respond to charges by rights groups that both sides are committing abuses against civilians.

“To my knowledge, there have been no crimes,” said Oumarou Boubacar, an army commander in Agadez in northern Niger where the crimes are alleged to have taken place.

"We are an evolved army. We respect humanitarian law," he told IRIN by phone on 20 December.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International released statements on 19 December accusing the Nigerien army of extrajudicial killings, mostly in reaction to rebel raids. HRW said the rebels have used landmines and robbed civilians.

The rebel Nigerien Movement for Justice (MNJ) has attacked government outposts in the isolated north, purportedly to seek a greater portion of Niger’s uranium revenues and more equitable treatment for the ethnic Touareg living in the area.

HRW called on both sides to cease what it calls "deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians".

Since armed conflict began in February, rights groups have accused the rebels of laying landmines indiscriminately. The mines have reportedly killed at least 49 soldiers in recent months. HRW says that of 80 people killed and injured, nearly one-fifth were civilians.

Amnesty International says at least 13 civilians have been “unlawfully” killed by Niger’s security forces in the last four weeks.

HRW spoke with civilians who said they witnessed soldiers assaulting civilians. “One day I was getting water in one of the wells in town when, just down the road, a military vehicle ran over a landmine,” a young woman who fled the northern town of Iférouane told HRW.

“After this, the soldiers went crazy and started shooting everywhere in the air – here, there and all over the village. They went into people’s houses looking for the ones who planted it and beat people they came across,” she said.

When IRIN contacted Communication Minister Mohamed Ben Omar he said, “We have no information for you at the moment” and hung up the phone. Reuters has reported that Ben Omar said the government would respond to the rights groups' charges on 21 December.

However according to various news service reports the government has admitted to “accidentally” killing seven civilians in a firefight between MNJ and army forces on 9 December.

Rebel responsibility

Rebels interviewed by HRW admitted to placing landmines on major roads around Agadez, Iférouane and Arlit. “[The rebels] claimed they were aiming to target military vehicles [but] including those used to escort civilian convoys,” the HRW report says.

The rebels are also suspected of having placed landmines that killed two civilians in the southern cities of Maradi and Tahoua on 10 December.

The MNJ denies responsibility, blaming the army instead. “There is no element of the MNJ that would target civilians,” the group’s spokesperson in Belgium, Moktar Roman, told IRIN following the incidents.

Humanitarian impact

While not widespread or systematic, the number of abuses by both sides appear to have increased in the last two months, Corinne Dufka, West Africa researcher for HRW, told IRIN.

The HRW and Amnesty reports corroborate recent observations by local and international aid workers that Touareg residents in Iférouane – an army town in rebel-controlled territory – have fled en masse.

Many are arriving in Arlit and Agadez and receiving little assistance, the local NGO SOS-Iférouane told IRIN.

Dufka said the army has allegedly killed people’s livestock as collective punishment. “The Touaregs are so dependent upon their livestock for their survival,” she told IRIN. “We’re quite concerned that, in combination with increased commodity prices [due to the lack of trade caused by the conflict], that could really create a hunger issue.”

The human rights groups also accuse soldiers of committing at least two rapes and 35 arbitrary detentions while rebels are accused of robbing people from southern ethnic groups.

IRIN hat geschrieben: NIGER: Army, rebels commit abuses against civilians, rights groups say

DAKAR, 20 December 2007 (IRIN) - The Nigerien army and rebels in the country have yet to formally respond to charges by rights groups that both sides are committing abuses against civilians.

"To my knowledge, there have been no crimes," said Oumarou Boubacar, an army commander in Agadez in northern Niger where the crimes are alleged to have taken place.

"We are an evolved army. We respect humanitarian law," he told IRIN by phone on 20 December.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International released statements on 19 December accusing the Nigerien army of extrajudicial killings, mostly in reaction to rebel raids. HRW said the rebels have used landmines and robbed civilians.

The rebel Nigerien Movement for Justice (MNJ) has attacked government outposts in the isolated north, purportedly to seek a greater portion of Niger's uranium revenues and more equitable treatment for the ethnic Touareg living in the area.

HRW called on both sides to cease what it calls "deliberate and indiscriminate attacks against civilians".

Since armed conflict began in February, rights groups have accused the rebels of laying landmines indiscriminately. The mines have reportedly killed at least 49 soldiers in recent months. HRW says that of 80 people killed and injured, nearly one-fifth were civilians.

Amnesty International says at least 13 civilians have been "unlawfully" killed by Niger's security forces in the last four weeks.

HRW spoke with civilians who said they witnessed soldiers assaulting civilians. "One day I was getting water in one of the wells in town when, just down the road, a military vehicle ran over a landmine," a young woman who fled the northern town of Iférouane told HRW.

"After this, the soldiers went crazy and started shooting everywhere in the air - here, there and all over the village. They went into people's houses looking for the ones who planted it and beat people they came across," she said.

When IRIN contacted Communication Minister Mohamed Ben Omar he said, "We have no information for you at the moment" and hung up the phone. Reuters has reported that Ben Omar said the government would respond to the rights groups' charges on 21 December.

However according to various news service reports the government has admitted to "accidentally" killing seven civilians in a firefight between MNJ and army forces on 9 December.

Rebel responsibility

Rebels interviewed by HRW admitted to placing landmines on major roads around Agadez, Iférouane and Arlit. "[The rebels] claimed they were aiming to target military vehicles [but] including those used to escort civilian convoys," the HRW report says.

The rebels are also suspected of having placed landmines that killed two civilians in the southern cities of Maradi and Tahoua on 10 December.

The MNJ denies responsibility, blaming the army instead. "There is no element of the MNJ that would target civilians," the group's spokesperson in Belgium, Moktar Roman, told IRIN following the incidents.

Humanitarian impact

While not widespread or systematic, the number of abuses by both sides appear to have increased in the last two months, Corinne Dufka, West Africa researcher for HRW, told IRIN.

The HRW and Amnesty reports corroborate recent observations by local and international aid workers that Touareg residents in Iférouane - an army town in rebel-controlled territory - have fled en masse.

Many are arriving in Arlit and Agadez and receiving little assistance, the local NGO SOS-Iférouane told IRIN.

Dufka said the army has allegedly killed people's livestock as collective punishment. "The Touaregs are so dependent upon their livestock for their survival," she told IRIN. "We're quite concerned that, in combination with increased commodity prices [due to the lack of trade caused by the conflict], that could really create a hunger issue."

The human rights groups also accuse soldiers of committing at least two rapes and 35 arbitrary detentions while rebels are accused of robbing people from southern ethnic groups.

IRIN hat geschrieben: NIGER: Mine explosion in Niamey

DAKAR, 9 January 2008 (IRIN) - A landmine that exploded under a car in the Nigerien capital Niamey on 8 January killed one civilian and wounded another, agencies report.

According to the BBC, the explosion occurred in the Yantala district of the city where many top army officers live. The Niamey explosion marks the first time an 11-month-old campaign of steadily escalating violence in the remote north of the country has reached the capital.

Landmine explosions, ambushes and skirmishes with the army there have already displaced at least 11,000 people and cut off large parts of the country from humanitarian aid.

In mid-December, two landmines exploded in the centre of the southern town Maradi and the central town Tahoua. Both of those explosions also caused civilian casualties. No group has claimed responsibility for any of the explosions.

A rebel group, the Nigerien Movement for Justice (MNJ), which claims to be fighting for political and economic autonomy for the mineral-rich, Touareg-dominated north of the country, has been accused by human rights groups of laying mines indiscriminately.

In a report released in December, Human Rights Watch said since the MNJ started its campaign in February 2007, 80 people have been killed or wounded by mines, of whom one third are civilians.

In interviews with IRIN in late December 2007, the MNJ accused the Nigerien army of laying mines in urban areas to try to turn public opinion against it.

But Niger's government warned in a statement justifying the extension of a national state of emergency in November that the MNJ was planning a campaign of urban terror.

Niger is among the poorest countries in the world and over half of its roughly 13 million people, many of them peasant farmers, rely heavily on international aid.

In years of bad harvests or high market prices, over half of Nigeriens may suffer from some form of malnutrition. On average, one in five Nigerien children dies before their fifth birthday.

Increased restrictions on movement of people in the south would have much larger humanitarian implications than the already existing problems in the north, as that is where most of Niger's population lives and where humanitarian needs are greatest.

IRIN hat geschrieben:NIGER: Rebels raid town in south east

A Touareg trader, in traditional dress, waits for customers at the daily camel market in Agadez, northern Niger, 10 September 2007
DAKAR, 22 January 2008 (IRIN) - An anti-government rebel group in Niger has claimed responsibility for an attack on the southeastern town Tanout near the eastern humanitarian aid hub Zinder on 21 January.

Three people were killed and seven abducted – including the prefet, the most senior government official in Tanout – in the evening raid, according to the governor of the Zinder region, interviewed by the Reuters news agency on 22 January. Tanout is 150 km north of Zinder and 950 km east of the capital Niamey.

The Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) on its website claimed to have taken 11 prisoners and killed seven police and soldiers.

The attack in Tanout is part of a gradual widening of a conflict between the MNJ and the government which started in February 2007. Since December, mines have exploded for the first time in the key aid hubs and trading towns Maradi and Tahoua and in Niamey.

The MNJ claims it is fighting for greater economic and political autonomy for the Touareg ethnic group dominating the north of the country. It has denied responsibility for laying the mines.

An aid official who requested anonymity said while the rebel attacks in southern Niger briefly disrupted aid operations in early January, work is expected to continue as usual.

“I don’t believe attacks will continue,” the official said. “These look like sporadic attacks just to show off and send a strong message that they can reach any part of the country they want, but I don’t know if they have the capability to really attack everywhere.”

Niger, a vast West African country roughly the size of Western Europe, is among the poorest countries in the world.

Every year between June and November, international aid agencies roll out a US$45-million relief effort to prevent malnutrition-related deaths as the country’s impoverished people struggle through the ‘lean season’, when their stores of food and money from the previous year’s harvest have run out.

Food monitors have warned that unusually high market prices for food in West Africa in 2008 could mean an especially difficult year for people especially in the semi-arid Sahel region which includes Niger as well as Chad, Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania.

The northern part of the country has already been largely cut off to aid agencies because of the fighting and mines which have been laid throughout the desert and mountain region.