A Resurgent Tuareg Insurgency?
NIGER | Thursday, 28 June 2007 | Views [762] | Comments [1]
On 22 June 2007, militants from a Tuareg rebel group attacked a military garrison in the remote Saharan outpost of Tazerzait, northern Niger. The dawn raid resulted in the deaths of at least 13 government soldiers, the wounding of a further 30 and the capture of 47 more. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ), a recently formed Tuareg militant group that has conducted several other attacks over the past few months. The increase in militant activity has raised fears of a resurgence in the Tuareg rebellion and has significant implications for security in Niger, and may impact on a number of foreign companies and non-governmental organisations operating in Niger's Saharan region.
The Tuaregs are a pastoral, nomadic people who are scattered among a number of West and North African states. In Niger they only make up roughly ten percent of the total population, but in the northern, desert regions of the country, specifically Aïr and Azawad, they constitute a clear majority. However, since Niger declared independence from France in 1960, the Tuareg people have become physically, politically, economically and socially marginalised from the country’s centre of power. With Niger’s various other ethnic groups dominating the government, the Tuaregs have, at times, been oppressed and subjugated. In the early 1990s, Tuareg anger and resentment toward their situation gave rise to a number of militant separatist groups who waged a violent campaign against the Niger state that claimed the lives of thousands before a comprehensive peace accord was signed in 1998. However, the security and stability brought about by this peace agreement now appears to be waning.
In recent years it has become increasingly apparent that discontent among the Tuareg population is once again on the rise. The economic development and decentralisation of political power promised in the 1998 agreement has not materialised, and the Tuareg population remains as disadvantaged as ever. In northern Niger, the burgeoning uranium mining and oil exploration industries have not brought regional prosperity, only serious ecological and health problems. The growing levels of popular dissatisfaction among the Tuareg population is what lead to the establishment of the MNJ. Sources on the ground suggest that the group is largely made up of veteran Tuareg militants, who were integrated into the Niger military under the terms of the 1998 agreement and subsequently defected. Led by a militant called Aghaly ag Alambo, the MNJ wants the Niger government to grant the Tuareg people greater rights and autonomy, as well as a share of the wealth from the northern region’s emergent resource exploitation industries. Armed with light weapons and using classic guerilla warfare the MNJ has become increasingly active over the past six months:
In February, it attacked an army base in the northern oasis town of Iferouane.
In March, its members attacked a bus carrying Niger soldiers, sparking an all-night gun battle. Anti-personnel mines laid by the group also claimed the lives of two Niger soldiers in the northern Agadez province.
In April, some 30 MNJ fighters attacked Niger’s largest uranium mine, run by French nuclear energy group Areva, killing one local security guard and wounding three others.
On 17 June, about 20 MNJ rebels attacked the international airport in Agadez, 740km northeast of the capital, Niamey. The attack was an attempt to destroy military reconnaissance planes. However, the hit-and-run attack was repelled by security forces and the airport suffered no casualties or significant damage.
As these attacks and the recent Tazerzait raid demonstrate, the MNJ is an increasingly confident, capable and lethal group. Not only has it attacked Niger military targets with coordination and determination, but it has also shown a willingness to strike aggressively at foreign targets. The MNJ’s capabilities have also recently been strengthened by the theft of some 9,600 rounds of ammunition, 39 light and heavy weapons, and 30 grenades from a government armoury in the Agadez region. At the same time, the Niger government’s response to the MNJ and its activities is likely only to invite further attacks. Niger President Mamadou Tandja has refused to recognize or negotiate with the MNJ, labeling its members as ‘criminals, drug traffickers and bandits’. This move will serve only to further antagonize the rebels and will have removed any incentive for restraint and moderation on their part. Additionally, Tandja’s decision to send military reinforcements to Niger’s northern territories and to provide more than US$60 million in additional funds to counter the group is likely in the medium-to-long term to drive the MNJ to attack ‘softer’ targets, such as foreign companies and personnel.
Tandja’s decision to pressure the group may well bare fruit, but there is also the possibility that the MNJ will mirror the tactics of militants in Nigeria and begin abducting foreign nationals in order to pressure the government in Niamey. A resurgent Tuareg insurgency in Niger also has the potential to destabilise the wider region. Mali, a landlocked former French colony to the west of Niger, has also faced Tuareg rebellions in the past. With a history of cross-border collaboration between various Tuareg militant groups, any Tuareg rebel renaissance in Niger could spill over into Mali, triggering a repeat of the race riots and violence which blighted eastern Mali throughout the 1990s. Ominously, MNJ rebels and Malian Tuaregs recently cooperated in an attack on a Malian police outpost, killing one gendarme and wounded five others.
The combination of widespread Tuareg discontent, a highly motivated and increasingly capable Tuareg insurgent group, and the Niger government’s entrenched political position suggests that a protracted, and possibly bloody, conflict in northern Niger is now highly likely, and may even spread to neighbouring countries. Due to the ongoing, and increasing, risk of violence, red24 advises against all non-essential travel to the northern parts of Niger, especially close to the border with Chad, Algeria and Mali.
Tags: travel safety, red24, tuareg, rebellion, niger
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