Niger: jihadist attack a few days before the presidential election

On Monday morning, an army patrol “fell into an ambush by heavily armed terrorist elements on motorcycles and in vehicles in the Taroun sector, a locality located 57 kilometers northeast of Ouallam”, around the Malian border, according to a press release from the Nigerien Defense Ministry received Thursday by AFP. “The results are as follows: friend side, seven soldiers deceased, two soldiers and a civilian wounded. On the enemy side, four terrorists neutralized [tués, NDLR], […] the spontaneous response “of the army” made it possible to neutralize seven additional terrorists “and” to rout the attackers “, according to the ministry, which reports motorcycles and weapons recovered. The Tillabéri region, where the attack took place, is located in the area of ​​the three Niger-Mali-Burkina borders. Motorcycles have been banned there day and night since January in order to control incursions by jihadists, generally operating on two-wheelers. This part of the Sahel is hit by jihadist violence – often interwoven with inter-communal conflicts – which killed some 4,000 people in these three countries in 2019, according to the UN.

The presidential threatened?

In its south-eastern part, Niger is facing attacks from jihadists from Boko Haram, near the border with Nigeria. An attack on the village of Toumour on December 12, on the eve of municipal and regional elections, claimed by Boko Haram, left 34 dead. A three-day national mourning, from December 15 to 17, was decreed in tribute to the victims. These “sporadic attacks will not prevent the holding of the poll,” a spokesperson for the government told AFP. Apart from the attack on Toumour, the vote went generally well in terms of security during the local elections, according to the authorities.

Some 7.4 million Nigeriens are called to the polls on Sunday for the presidential election and the army will deploy an exceptional device, according to security sources. Nigeriens have to choose between thirty candidates, including Mohamed Bazoum, designated dolphin of President Issoufou, but also two former heads of state, Mahamane Ousmane and Salou Djibo. Mr. Bazoum, former Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, is considered a key figure in power under the presidency of Mr. Issoufou. The main opponent, Hama Amadou, former prime minister and former speaker of parliament, 70, was excluded from the race by the Constitutional Court because of his conviction in 2017 in a case of trafficking in babies, which he described as political judgment. He received a presidential pardon in March while serving his 12-month prison sentence.

The country, among the poorest in the world, is organizing a double presidential and legislative ballot on Sunday marked by the voluntary departure of the head of state Mahamadou Issoufou after two terms. Niger, shaken by numerous coups d’état, has never yet experienced a succession between two presidents elected since independence in 1960.