The military junta in control of Niger since July 26 announced on Sunday that, in response to a threat of invasion by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), it would shut down the country’s airspace and issue an “energetic and instant response” to any unauthorized flights over its territory.
The coup in Niger will undermine the fight against resurgent terror groups in Africa’s Sahel region, France’s defence minister said.
Niger’s junta asked the Wagner group for help as the deadline nears for it to free the ousted president or face military intervention.
President Mohamed Bazoum of Niger, deposed by a military coup d’etat last week and believed to be trapped in his presidential residence, declared himself a “hostage” and in a Washington Post column published on Thursday asked for American intervention on his behalf.
The State Department announced on Wednesday that it would begin evacuating “non-emergency” American personnel from its embassy in Niamey, Niger, where a group calling itself the “National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland” claimed to have overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum last week.
The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed on Tuesday that American troops remain in Niger and have no imminent plan to leave, though they remain in “clearly a not-normal situation” following the head of the presidential guard staging an attempted coup d’etat against President Mohamed Bazoum.
The governments of Burkina Faso and Mali issued statements on Monday defending the military coup in Niger last week, stating that any military intervention by democratic neighbors to oust the coup leaders in Niger would be a “declaration of war” against them, as well.
A message claiming to be from the head of the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC), Yevgeny Prigozhin, published on social media on Monday suggested that the mercenary organization would continue to remain active only in Africa for the time being – mere days after another claiming to be Prigozhin praised the coup against a pro-Western president in Niger.
The regional Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), following an emergency meeting on Sunday, announced that it would consider “force” to oust the leaders of a coup d’etat in Niger last week, rejecting their authority and declaring “zero tolerance for unconstitutional change of government.”
Protesters in Niger marched through the capital on Sunday in support of the military coup before attacking the French embassy.
General Abdourahmane Tchiani appeared on national television and declared himself the president of Niger on Friday, a day after a group of soldiers claiming to be the “National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland” said they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum and suspended government operations.
A group of soldiers describing themselves as the “National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland” appeared on national television in Niger late Thursday night announcing they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum and “suspended” the operations of all government institutions.
(AFP) — After nine years deployed in Mali, France is organising a drawdown, with troops preparing to leave the last of three bases in the far north of the insurgency-hit and poverty-wracked country.
Unidentified terrorists abducted “about 200” children from an Islamic studies school in northern Nigeria on Sunday, Sky News reported.
Pope Francis reached out to the people of Niger Wednesday, offering prayers and encouragement following lethal terror attacks that claimed the lives of at least 137 people.
Nigeria’s center-right People’s Democratic Party (PDP) criticized Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday for his “failure” to guarantee the safety of people’s lives and property in the country after U.S. forces rescued an American citizen held hostage in Nigeria on Saturday.
PARIS (AP) – Prime Minister Jean Castex paid homage on Friday to six French aid workers killed last week in Niger, saying they were likely victims of the same kind of hate behind the 2015 terror attack on a French music hall.
PARIS (AP) — French anti-terrorism prosecutors formally opened an investigation one day after eight people, including six French nationals, were killed by gunmen in a Niger giraffe park.
Jihadist terrorist group Boko Haram in 2009 kicked off an insurgency in Nigeria that spilled into neighboring countries to the east and persists to this day. According to an analysis published by Nigerian newspaper Premium Times on Sunday, two of
PAU, France (AP) – France is preparing its military to better target Islamic extremists in a West African region that has seen a surge of deadly violence. But first, French President Emmanuel Macron is asking African heads of state to answer a key question: “Do you want us there?”
Fourteen troops were killed following an ambush by “heavily-armed terrorists” in the western Niger region of Tillaberi, the interior ministry said.
Jihadists killed 71 soldiers in a terrorist attack on a remote military camp in Niger close to the border with Mali, an army spokesman confirmed on Wednesday, in what was the deadliest attack on the military in the country’s history.
Pirates have kidnapped nine crew members after hijacking a Norwegian cargo ship off the coast of the West African country of Benin.
A failed 27-year-old African asylum seeker from Niger, West Africa is currently on trial in a German court, accused of raping a child.
Recent developments in Niger and South Sudan could signal a turning point for preventing girls from being married off before they become adults in two countries with the highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world, news outlets reported this week.
A mob of Muslim activists sacked and set fire to a Christian church in Niger this weekend to protest the arrest of an influential imam.
The U.S.-backed Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) fighting jihadis in the Lake Chad Basin counties over the weekend repudiated a video by the Islamic State-West African Province (ISWAP) released late last month and purportedly showing the execution of nine Nigerian troops as well as the seizure of personnel and their heavy weapons.
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping rolled out the red carpet in Beijing Tuesday for President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger, one of the signatories to Beijing’s multi-trillion dollar Belt and Road project.
Algeria is closing its southern border to Syrian migrants, citing security concerns.
Militants of the Boko Haram Islamic terror group kidnapped 18 girls last Friday from two villages in the southeastern part of Niger near the Nigerian border, reports say.
A missionary priest was kidnapped in Niger this week by armed gunmen presumed to be jihadists from neighboring Burkina Faso.
The U.S. military is reportedly deploying more armed MQ-9 Reaper drones to Niger at the request of the local government, even as the U.S. special forces troop presence is scaled back.
An extensive report published by Thomson Reuters Foundation on Wednesday finds that the price of a child bride in eastern Africa, particularly South Sudan and Kenya, has skyrocketed as families seek ways to avoid starvation and ensure their children have food and shelter.
Congress’s watchdog arm this week raised questions on how effectively the Pentagon and U.S. State Department are overseeing projects linked to multi-billion dollar Global Train and Equip program primarily intended to improve counterterrorism capabilities for U.S. partner nations like Jordan, Niger, and Afghanistan.
The Pentagon on Thursday released its final report on the ambush in Niger that killed four U.S. troops on October 4, 2017. The report cited “systemic issues” including insufficient training and confusion about mission objectives, specifically the decision by the team to pursue a high-value Islamic State target without obtaining proper command approval.
U.S. military troops in Niger repelled an attack in Niger by Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists in December, months after the terrorist group ambushed a Green Beret-led team in October, killing four American service members, the Pentagon has acknowledged.
Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)-affiliated terrorists are disseminating a propaganda video online purporting to show a deadly ambush in Niger in which jihadists killed four U.S. soldiers and wounded two others last October.
Contents: Burkina Faso terror attack targets France’s anti-terror Operation Barkhane; China pushes to invest heavily in Iraq’s energy infrastructure; African Cédric Bakambu joins China’s Sinobo Guoan Football Club
France has begun a new initiative to bring in 3,000 migrants directly from Africa as 19 Sundanese migrants arrived on Monday who will be temporarily housed in a monastery in Alsace.
Contents: CNN investigation finds thriving slave trade in Libya; Italy defends its role in Libya’s slave trade
