Nigerien soldiers near a French airbase in Niger.
AUGUST 16, 2023. Seventeen troops died in a jihadist ambush in Niger, the government said, in a reminder of the nation’s deep security crisis as its military rulers face off against neighbors determined to reverse last month’s coup.
An army detachment was “the victim of a terrorist ambush near the town of Koutougou” in the Tillaberi region near Burkina Faso on Tuesday, said a defense ministry statement published later that day.
It added that another 20 soldiers had been wounded, six seriously, with all the casualties evacuated to the capital Niamey.
More than 100 assailants, who were traveling on motorbikes, were “neutralized” during their retreat, the army said.
A jihadist insurgency has plagued Africa’s Sahel region for more than a decade, breaking out in northern Mali in 2012 before spreading to neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso in 2015.
The so-called “three borders” area between the three countries is regularly the scene of attacks by rebels affiliated with the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda.
The unrest across the region has killed thousands of troops, police officers, and civilians and forced millions to flee their homes.
Anger at the bloodshed has fuelled military coups in all three countries since 2020, with Niger the latest to fall when its elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, was ousted on July 26.
Alarmed by the cascade of takeovers, the West African bloc ECOWAS has warned of possible military intervention to reinstall Bazoum, who is being detained in the presidential compound in Niamey.
In the last decade, the border area where central Mali, northern Burkina Faso and western Niger converge has become the epicentre of violence by armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) in the Sahel region.
Anger at the bloodshed has fuelled military takeovers in all three countries since 2020, with Niger the latest to fall to a coup on July 26 when President Mohamed Bazoum was removed.
Southeast Niger is also the target of armed groups crossing from northeastern Nigeria – the cradle of a campaign initiated by Boko Haram in 2010.
The coup leaders had said Bazoum’s ouster was due to the insecurity in the country was “due to the deteriorating security situation and bad governance”.
Nigerien military government’s revoking of agreements with French military and suspension of aid by Niamey’s other partners “makes life more difficult”.
“It will be difficult now for Niger to source for equipment, for weaponry and deal with the rising cases of attacks by these armed groups in the Sahel … it may have to rely on countries like Mali and Burkina Faso for expertise and also from the mercenary groups that have been operating in these two countries,” he said on Wednesday.
“But how much can they give? How long will that be? They too are facing a similar problem,” Idris added.