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The blog of the Wilson Center's Environmental Change and Security Program
  • New Year Sees Heightened Violence in Niger

    January 18, 2008 By Sonia Schmanski
    Hostility between the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) and the country’s government—brewing since government officials announced a sharp increase in mining project commitments in the northern region of Niger in early 2007—escalated this month. Violence reached Niger’s capital city of Niamey for the first time on January 8, 2008, when a landmine exploded under a car, killing a local radio director. The MNJ, which decries what it perceives as the unequal distribution of profits from uranium mining and oil drilling in Tuareg territory, has killed nearly 50 soldiers since early last year, earning the wrath of the Nigerien government. Although the group vehemently denies any involvement with the January 8 attack, many in Niger are skeptical of this claim.

    Ethnic Tuaregs, who live mostly in northern Niger and account for eight percent of the country’s population, make up the majority of the MNJ. Politically marginalized following independence and devastated by the desertification of the Sahel and the droughts of 1968-74 and 1984-85, the Tuareg also suffered from the government’s refusal to assist the drought-stricken territories and government expropriation of international humanitarian aid. Following the droughts, many Tuaregs moved to urban areas, where they found themselves culturally isolated. Others were forced to move into refugee camps, while still others migrated to Algeria and Libya. In Niger, this social divide, coupled with economic hardship, manifested itself in violent rebellion between 1990 and 1995, when a peace deal was brokered in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The peace, however, was neither complete nor lasting.

    Recently, lack of access to the economic benefits of oil drilling and uranium mining in Tuareg territory has led to increasingly volatile relations between the Tuareg and Niger’s government. Government spokesman Mohamed Ben Omar’s announcement last May that Niger would seek to triple its uranium production in the near future only increased the tension. In addition, several instances of violence during 2007 have further strained relations between the MNJ and Niger’s government. On April 20, Tuareg rebels attacked uranium prospectors from the French-controlled Areva mining company in northern Niger, calling for increased benefits for the local Tuareg population and better implementation of the 1995 peace accord, which required companies to give preference to the Tuareg in their hiring processes. On July 6, rebels captured and held a Chinese mine employee for four days before releasing him.

    The violence seems set to continue: On January 10, 2008, Nigerien Energy and Mines Minister Mamadou Abdulahi announced that Niger would award 100 new mining exploration permits over the next two years and seven new oil exploration licenses in 2008, and on January 13, Areva announced plans to undertake the largest industrial mining project ever in Niger. Areva will invest more than €1 billion in the project, which will produce nearly 5,000 tons of uranium a year.

    The Environmental Change and Security Program (ECSP) has long explored the connections between natural resources and security. ECSP’s January 9, 2008, meeting, “Innovative Partnerships for Peace: The Role of Extractive Industries in Resource-Based Conflict Prevention and Mitigation,” was the first in a series that will explore the links between conflict, natural resources, and human health.
    Topics: Africa, conflict, energy, natural resources
    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/15130206644052866501 Rachel Weisshaar

      Update: BBC News reports that on Tuesday, January 22, MNJ rebels abducted the mayor of Tanout, a Nigerien town, as well as 10 other townspeople. “BBC West Africa correspondent Will Ross says this attack by the rebels of the Niger Movement for Justice appears to be a strong warning intended to dissuade people from siding with the government forces,” says the article.

    • http://www.blogger.com/profile/06417365012432180423 TCN

      In order to understand the MNJ perspective, you need to research more on the contributing factors to the conflict, as well as the current political developments in Niger. The object of MNJ’s swift attack on Tanout was, as they stated, to intervene in a developing situation where the Prefet, a major government official, was taking actions to divide Nigeriens, and encouraging hate campaigns against the Tuareg people in his community. The central problem in the MNJ offensive is social inequality. The Tuaregs have been contesting their marginalization for decades, but they have been ignored, disrespected, intimidated, arrested, and murdered for speaking up. The first Tuareg rebellion in the 90s ended with a peace agreement. However, the government did not fulfill its part of the agreement, leaving the Tuareg people in the same situation as before. Thirteen years later, the Tuaregs have taken up arms again, because the government refuses to discuss it. The national army has been ineffective, and has resorted to (documented) human rights abuses. The government has resorted to labeling the MNJ and referring to Tuareg people in general as “terrorists,” and running hate campaigns on national TV, radio, and the Internet. The Defense Minister has issued an appeal for citizens to form “vigilance brigades,” and some local leaders have echoed his call. The Prefet of Tanout was creating an atmosphere of fear and repression in the local population, which includes many Tuareg civilians, by encouraging local non-Tuareg citizens to engage in accusations of their Tuareg neighbors in a witch-hunt that could lead to civil war. By contrast with the Niger power elite, which is secretive, corrupt, unreliable, and transparently prejudiced against the Tuaregs, the MNJ (which is Tuareg-led, but is composed of men from all ethnic groups in Niger) has shown itself to be transparent (via their blog) about their actions and intentions, upholding certain moral standards in the interest of *all* ethnic groups, and — most importantly — reliable.

      For more information, commentary and sources, visit: http://tuaregcultureandnews.blogspot.com/

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