MORE THAN A DOZEN NIGER SOLDIERS KILLED IN AMBUSH NEAR MALI BORDER

Wed 16 August 2023:

Niger’s defence ministry said on Tuesday (August 15) that 17 of its army soldiers were killed in a southwest region bordering Burkina Faso. In a statement, the defence ministry said a detachment of the army was attacked in an ambush next to Torodi commune, adding over a hundred “terrorists” were neutralised.

“The swift reaction of the soldiers and the air-land response at the scene of the skirmish enabled the enemy to be dealt with,” the statement added. Attacks in Niger have been falling since 2021 but security remains a major problem, especially in the southwest near the border with neighbouring Mali.

Last year on the Malian side, the departure of French troops last year left a security vacuum that groups linked to Islamic State and Al Qaeda have expanded into.

This incident comes amid Niger facing a military coup since July 26.

Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris, reporting from Abuja in nearby Nigeria, said the 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.

Niger open to talks to resolve regional crisis

The Niger junta said on Tuesday that it was open to talks to resolve the regional crisis caused by the military coup. “We are in a process of transition. We have explained the ins and outs, reiterated our willingness to remain open and to talk to all parties, but we have insisted on the need for the country to be independent,” the military-appointed Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine said, following his visit to Chad to meet President Mahamat Deby.

Following his meeting, Prime Minister Lamine Zeine said he brought a message of “good neighbourliness and good fraternity” from the head of Niger’s regime.

The junta is also set to prosecute ousted President Mohamed Bazoum for high treason over his exchanges with foreign heads of state and international organisations. On Sunday, junta spokesperson Colonel Amadou Abdramane said that the military authorities had “gathered the necessary evidence to prosecute the ousted president … for high treason and undermining the internal and external security of Niger”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

______________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent