AVOID MUSLIM NIGER
Niger is a poor Sahelian country with few resources and unstable governments.
In fact, it is the country with the second poorest living standards in the world,
only surpassed by uneasy Sierra Leone. Little progress thus is made in
improving the situation of women's rights. Traditional practices, including the
use of family or traditional courts, thus regulate the living conditions of
most women. A recent change of government priorities however raises hopes for
serious poverty alliviation.
Despite the Constitution's provisions for
women's rights, the traditional belief in the submission of women to men is
deeply rooted.
Domestic violence against women is widespread
in Niger. Prostitution is often the only alternative for a abused woman who divorces her husband. Female
Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced by several ethnic groups in the country.
Each Nigerien woman averagely gives birth to
over 7 children (2000 est.).
Social data
Life expectancy: Total population: 41.27 years; male: 41.43 years;
female: 41.11 years (2000 est.)
Literacy rate: Total population: 13.6%; male: 20.9%; female: 6.6% (1995
est.)
Medical services: 30% of the people have access to medical services.
(33.000 persons per doctor).
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.04
male(s)/female; 15-64 years: 0.95 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 1.11
male(s)/female; total population: 1 male(s)/female (2000 est.)
Religious data:
Muslim 82%, traditional African religions 17,82%, Christian 0,18%
Family and tradition
Discrimination is worse in rural areas, where
women do much of the subsistence farming as well as child-rearing, water- and
wood-gathering, and other work. Despite constituting 47 percent of the work
force, women have made only modest inroads in civil service and professional
employment and remain underrepresented in these areas.
Women's inferior legal status is evident, for example, in head of household
status: A male head of household has certain legal rights, but divorced or
widowed women, even with children, are not considered to be heads of
households. Among the Hausa and Peul in the east, some women are cloistered and
may leave their homes only if escorted by a male and usually only after dark.
In 1994 the Government considered a draft family code intended to eliminate
gender bias in inheritance rights, land tenure, and child custody, as well as
end the practice of repudiation, which permits a husband to obtain an immediate
divorce with no further responsibility for his wife or children. However, in
June 1994 when Islamic associations criticized the draft code, the
then-Government suspended discussions. The Government has taken no further action
on the family code, although on August 13, it ratified the Convention for the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Some Islamic groups
criticized the treaty and complained that they were not consulted beforehand.
Women's groups have so far been silent, allegedly due to fear of reprisals. The
same Islamic militant groups worked against the family code, and reportedly
threatened women who supported the code with physical harm.
Tradition among some ethnic groups allows young girls from rural families to
enter into marriage agreements on the basis of which girls are sent by the age
of 10 or 12 (or younger) to join their husband's family under the tutelage of
their mother-in-law. There are credible reports of underage girls being drawn into
prostitution, sometimes with the complicity of the family.
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is practiced by
several ethnic groups in the extreme west and far eastern areas of the country.
Clitoridectomy is the most common form of FGM.
Gender sensitivity in society
The Constitution prohibits discrimination based
on sex, social origin, race, ethnicity, or religion. However, in practice there
is discrimination against women, children, ethnic minorities, and disabled
persons, including limited economic and political opportunities.
Despite the Constitution's provisions for women's rights, the deep-seated
traditional belief in the submission of women to men results in discrimination
in education, employment, and property rights.
Health data
Access to potable water: 48%
Medical services: 30% of the people have access to medical services.
(33.000 persons per doctor).
Maternal mortality rate: 1.200/100.000
Infant mortality: 124,9 deaths/1.000 live births (2000 est.)
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM): Females in several ethnic groups
undergo this procedure.
Female genital mutilation, which is widely
condemned by international health experts as damaging to both physical and psychological
health, is practiced by several ethnic groups in the extreme west and far
eastern areas of the country. Clitoridectomy is the most common form of FGM.
FGM is not illegal, but the Government is engaged firmly in an effort to
eliminate the practice. The Government is working closely with a local NGO, the
United Nations Children's Fund, and other donors to develop and distribute
educational materials at government clinics and maternal health centers.
Violence against women
Domestic violence against women is widespread,
although firm statistics are lacking. Wife beating is reportedly common, even
in upper social classes. Families often intervene to prevent the worst abuses,
and women may (and do) divorce because of physical abuse. While women have the
right to seek redress in the customary or modern courts, few do so, due to
ignorance of the legal system, fear of social stigma, or fear of repudiation.
Women's rights organizations report that prostitution is often the only
economic alternative for a woman who wants to leave her husband.
Main sources: U.S. Department of State, CIA, UN,
HRW, Mundo negro
Suspected Islamic militants kill 19 people in
Niger village
4-18-21
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Officials in Niger say 19
people are dead in the country’s troubled region near the border with Mali
after gunmen aboard motorcycles attacked a village. The government said Sunday
that the suspected Islamic extremists shot at worshippers as they prayed at the
mosque Saturday evening during the holy month of Ramadan. In a statement, the
government called the violence in Gaigorou a
“cowardly attack by people who claim to be Muslims.” The West African nation of
Niger has faced an unprecedented wave of attacks in the border area this year,
leaving hundreds of civilians dead.
Niger: About
30 civilians killed near Malian border
Armed men
attacked villages in Tahoua region
Kane Illa
22.03.2021
Anadolu News Agency
NIAMEY, Niger
At least 30
Nigerien civilians were killed on Sunday in a series of attacks on villages in
northwestern Niger near the Malian border, said a security source on Monday.
"Unidentified
armed men attacked villages in the Tillia department,
in the Tahoua region," a security official told
Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the
media.
No official
statement has been made and no claim of responsibility reported so far.
This is the second
armed attack targeting Nigerien civilians in a week.
Last Monday,
unidentified gunmen attacked and killed at least 58 civilians returning from a
weekly market in the Banibangou department, Tillaberi region, near the Malian border, according to government
spokesman Abdourahamane Zakaria.
The government
had declared a three-day mourning to pay tribute to the victims.
The Tillaberi region has been frequently targeted by terrorist
groups based in Mali since 2017, with a state of emergency declared in the
area.
Niger, Burkina
Faso, and Mali in the Sahel are at the epicenter of one of the world's
fastest-growing displacement and protection crises.
The region
hosts 851,000 refugees and nearly 2 million displaced people, according to the
UN refugee agency.
In January,
around 100 people were killed in attacks in two Tillaberi
villages after the first round of presidential elections.
Boko Haram claims attack in Niger that killed
dozens
At least 27 killed in an attack on Saturday in
the Diffa region, while many others are wounded or reported missing.
14 Dec 2020
Aljazeera
The Boko Haram armed group has claimed
responsibility for the weekend attack on a village in Niger that left at least
27 dead.
More people were wounded and some reported
missing in the assault on Saturday evening on Toumour
in the Diffa region, said a senior local official on Monday.
Witnesses and other officials confirmed the
attack, which came hours before municipal and regional elections were held
across Niger on Sunday.
“We hereby inform the world that we are
responsible for the attack in the town of Diffa in Niger Republic yesterday
[Saturday],” said a three-minute video sent to AFP news agency.
The footage showed a fighter in military camouflage
and his face swathed in a turban, speaking in Hausa, which is widely spoken in
the region.
“We carried out the attack with the power of
Allah and His help,” it said.
The group, led by elusive leader Abubakar
Shekau, said more Christians could be attacked ahead of Christmas.
Local officials said some of the victims in
Diffa were shot and others burned to death inside their homes.
Between 800 and 1,000 houses, the central
market and numerous vehicles were also destroyed in the fire set by the attackers,
they said.
Dozens of attackers arrived at Toumour on foot in the evening, having swum across Lake
Chad, said one official.
The attack lasted three hours. “They first
attacked the residence of the traditional chief, who only just managed to escape,”
the official said.
“It was an attack of unprecedented savagery,”
said an elected local official who asked not to be named. “Nearly 60 percent of
the village has been destroyed.”
Attacks by Boko Haram began in 2009 in
northeastern Nigeria before spreading to neighbouring
Niger, Cameroon and Chad.
Since then, more than 36,000 people have been
killed in Nigeria and two million forced to flee their homes, sparking a
humanitarian crisis in the region.
A regional military coalition has been formed
to fight the group.
French NGO
workers among eight killed by gunmen in Niger, local governor says
Six French
citizens and their local guide and driver were killed Sunday by gunmen riding
motorcycles in an area of southwestern Niger that is home to the last West
African giraffes, officials said.
France 24
8-9-2020
It is believed
to be the first such attack on tourists in the area, a popular attraction in
the former French colony thanks
to its unique population of West African or Niger giraffes.
France's
presidency confirmed that French citizens had been killed in Niger, without
giving the number of dead.
French
President Emmanuel Macron also spoke on the phone with his Niger counterpart Mahamadou Issoufou, the Elysee
palace said.
"There
are eight dead: two Nigeriens including a guide and a driver, while the other
six are French," the governor of the Tillaberi
region Tidjani Ibrahim Katiella
told AFP.
"We are
managing the situation, we will give more information later," Katiella said, without indicating who was behind the
attack.
A source close
to the environmental services said the assault took place at around 11:30 am
(1030 GMT) six kilometres (four miles) east of the
town of Koure, which is an hour's drive from the
capital Niamey.
'Most of the
victims were shot'
"Most of
the victims were shot... We found a magazine emptied of its cartridges at the
scene," the source told AFP.
"We do
not know the identity of the attackers but they came on motorcycles through the
bush and waited for the arrival of the tourists."
The source
added that the tourists' vehicle belonged to the French humanitarian organisation ACTED.
Grisly
pictures seen by AFP of the scene showed bodies lying near a torched off-road
vehicle, which had bullet holes in its rear window.
Around 20
years ago, a small herd of West African giraffes, a subspecies distinguished by
its lighter colour, found a safe haven from poachers
and predators in the Koure area.
Today they
number in their hundreds and are a key tourist attraction, enjoying the
protection of local people and conservation groups.
However, the Tillaberi region is in a hugely unstable location, near the
borders of Mali and Burkina Faso.
The region has
become a hideout for Sahel jihadist groups such as the Islamic State in the
Greater Sahara (ISGS).
The use of
motorcycles has been totally banned since January in an attempt to curb the
movements of such jihadists.
Twenty
Killed in Attacks on Villages in Western Niger
May 10, 2020
NIAMEY (REUTERS) - At least 20 people were killed in attacks by unidentified gunmen on several villages in the Tillaberi region of western Niger, the governor of the region said on Sunday.
Ibrahim Tidjani Katchella told national
radio Saturday's attacks were carried out by assailants on motorcycles. He gave
no further details.
Tillaberi is in the tri-border region of Niger,
Burkina Faso and Mali known as Liptako-Gourma, where
Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State have strengthened their
foothold, making swathes of the arid Sahel area ungovernable.
France,
several European and African countries have set up a new task force made up of
special forces to fight insurgent groups in the region alongside the Mali and
Niger armies.
14 dead in Niger after Islamic extremists attack convoy
By DALATOU MAMANE
December 26, 2019
NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — Islamic extremists on
motorcycles killed 14 security force members who were escorting election
officials in the West African nation of Niger, the first large attack there
since 71 soldiers were killed in a massive ambush earlier this month,
authorities said Thursday.
The attack took place Wednesday night near Sanam, which is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the
capital of Niamey, according to a government statement. Officials from the
national electoral commission were in the area to conduct a census before next
year’s vote.
The victims were seven military police officers
and seven national guard members, the statement said.
Niger has long been vulnerable to Islamic
extremism because it shares a border with Nigeria, where Boko Haram insurgents
have been carrying out attacks for a decade.
But now Niger is increasingly threatened by
extremists from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group, which carried
out a 2017 attack that left four U.S. service members dead in Niger. Those same
extremists who are active along the Niger-Mali border also claimed the
unprecedented massacre at the army camp earlier this month that left 71 dead.
Niger’s military has undergone training for
years from both American and French forces, but the Dec. 10 attack near the
town of Inates underscored the threat extremists
still pose. French President Emmanuel Macron has postponed a meeting with
Niger’s president and other regional leaders until January.
Niger is also a member of the G5 Sahel regional
military force — along with Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania — which has
unsuccessfully tried to drive jihadis out of the vast region south of the Sahara desert. The cross-border joint force was launched in
July 2017, but has been beset by financial shortfalls and other challenges.
The crisis across the Sahel has deepened over
the past year, particularly in Mali and Burkina Faso. Jihadi attacks on
military outposts became so frequent that Mali’s president shut down the most
remote and vulnerable as part of a military reorganization.
Fighting
in Niger kills 5 soldiers, 30 Boko Haram militants
September 14, 2016
Associated
Press
NIAMEY, Niger – Niger's defense ministry says at
least five soldiers and 30 Boko Haram militants have been killed after an ambush
by the Nigeria-based Islamic extremists led to fighting.
Col. Moustapha Michel Ledru said the attack on
soldiers Monday near Toumour, about 65 kilometers (40
miles) northeast of the town of Diffa, also injured six soldiers.
He spoke Tuesday night on national television, saying the army captured two
extremists along with a large quantity of arms and ammunition.
Ledru also said two soldiers were killed Sept. 8 when their vehicle hit an
improvised explosive device during a patrol near Barwa locality in the Diffa
region.
Boko Haram has been launching attacks across Nigeria's borders into Niger, Chad
and Cameroon, which contribute to a multinational force that seeks to counter
it.
70 Niger Churches Struggle to Rebuild After
Islamist Revenge Rampage for Charlie Hebdo Cartoons
BY STOYAN ZAIMOV ,
CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER
July 24, 2015
Christian churches in Niger are facing a lack
of resources and difficult conditions in rebuilding six months after the wave
of angry Islamist attacks destroyed at least 70 houses of worship in revenge
for Charlie Hebdo's drawings of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.
"Since these incidents, it is as if life had stopped," said Rev.
Jacques Kangindé, leader of the Baptist
"Roundabout" church in Niamey. "The church has become a source
of curiosity for passers-by and a hide-out for idlers. Unfortunately
our current church finances don't allow us to begin the reconstruction."
World Watch Monitor noted that most of the 70 churches destroyed in the
attacks, as well as several Christian schools and an orphanage, have still not
been rebuilt.
"We feel that, as the emotion of the first
days has now passed, our case is no longer of interest to our political
leaders," Kangindé added.
"They seem more concerned with
preparations for the elections [due in 2016] and the fight against Boko Haram.
The churches are abandoned to their fate."
Beside the property damage, Islamic mobs killed
at least 10 people during the rampage back in January. The attacks sought to
punish Christians for the cartoons published by French satirical magazine
Charlie Hebdo — despite the fact that Hebdo is a secular magazine that has
openly mocked Christians and is no way affiliated with any churches.
Hebdo itself suffered a terror attack in
January in its offices in Paris, when Islamic gunmen shot down 12 of its
workers for the Muhammad drawings.
Niger's churches have been trying to survive
and rebuild since the attacks, but it has proven to be a hard task, added Rev.
Zakaria Jadi of the Salama church in the capital's northern district of Bani Fandou 2.
"It is a blow to our church. For nearly a
month, there was neither water nor electricity. We have done our best to allow
our worship activities to restart, but we have now reached our limit. The
reconstruction work may probably take some time," Jadi said.
The pastor lost both his house and his church
on the same day, and spoke of the pain he felt coming back to Salama to see the
damage.
"I felt very bad, such an indescribable
feeling when I saw my ripped-up Bible on the ground. For a pastor, it was like
my entire life was torn apart. I could not stop shedding tears," he added.
Jadi said, however, that he has sought to move
on: "It was truly hurting, but I was well supported by brothers and
sisters who have encouraged me a lot. And I received my greatest encouragement
from God, he has really strengthened me in order to overcome that ordeal. And he
also allowed me to support those who were in tears."
Dozens of churches burned in Niger by Muslim
group
March 12, 2015
Alabama Baptist
NIAMEY, Niger — At least 68 churches, two of which were Baptist, have been
burned in the West African country of Niger.
Panlieba Tchalieni,
president of the Union of Evangelical Baptist Churches of Niger, reported that
the church burnings, carried out by Muslim extremist group Boko Haram, occurred
in the Zinder region and Niamey.
“In terms of Baptist churches in Niger, we have
two churches that are burned: the first evangelical church in Niger built in
1928 and another behind the Niger River built 15 years ago,” Tchalieni said.
Boko Haram, a Nigerian-based radical jihadist group that seeks to
establish Sharia law, has extended its activities to other countries in West
Africa, including Niger, where it has carried out recent attacks in the
southeast.
Thousands of civilians fled their homes in the southeastern Niger town of
Diffa. The area was already under stress, providing refuge to some 150,000
people who crossed the border to escape the violence in northern Nigeria.
Niger, which shares much of its southern border
with Nigeria, declared a 15-day state of emergency in Diffa after a series of
attacks by Boko Haram.
Kojo Amo of Ghana, chairman of the western
region of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, appealed for prayer and support
for the Christian church in Niger. “Please let us remember Christians in Niger
in our prayers that the Lord will strengthen them in the faith during this
difficult time.”
(BWA)
Niger protests over Charlie Hebdo Prophet
Mohammed cartoon leaves four dead and 45 injured
Clashes between protesters and security forces
leave dozens injured, national radio reports, as one Catholic and two
Protestant churches were attacked
By AFP
16 Jan 2015
Four people were killed and 45 injured in a day of violent protests in Niger's
second city against French magazine Charlie Hebdo's publication of a cartoon of
the Prophet Mohammed.
Massaoudou Hassoumi,
the interior minister, said a policeman and three civilians died in Friday's
disturbances in Zinder in which three churches were ransacked and the French
cultural centre was burned down.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside
mosques after Friday prayers to vent anger at the depiction of the prophet,
which is considered taboo to most Muslims.
Twenty-two members of the security forces and
23 protesters were hurt in the ensuing clashes, national radio reported, as one
Catholic and two Protestant churches were attacked.
A doctor in the city's hospital told AFP that all
of the dead and three of the injured had gunshot wounds.
Niger sees first slavery conviction over 'fifth
wife'
28 May 2014
BBC
The pressure group Anti-Slavery International told the BBC the 63-year-old man
was convicted of having what is known as a "fifth wife".
Men in Niger are allowed to have four wives
under a local interpretation of Islamic law.
With a "fifth wife", no marriage
takes place and the woman is treated solely as property.
Sarah Mathewson
Anti-Slavery International
Niger officially banned slavery in 2003 but
anti-slavery organisations say thousands of people
still live in subjugation.
The conviction took place in the town of Birnin Konni
in south-west Niger, close to the border with Nigeria.
Anti-Slavery International says "fifth
wives" are often girls of slave descent sold to wealthy men who view the
purchase of young women as a sign of prestige.
The women face a lifetime of physical and
psychological abuse and forced labour, the group
says.
The case was taken to court by Anti-Slavery's
partners in Niger, Timidria.
Sarah Mathewson, Africa Programme
Co-ordinator at Anti-Slavery International, said it
was "incredible" to achieve a conviction.
"It's been over 10 years since the law
against slavery was passed in Niger and we've worked since then to bring
perpetrators of slavery to justice," she said.
"We hope that this judgment will serve as
a catalyst for more prosecutions, as we are pursuing many other cases before
the courts."
In a landmark case in 2008, the West African
regional body Ecowas found Niger's government guilty of failing to protect a
woman from slavery. It ordered the government to pay compensation to the
victim.
Twin Bomb Attacks Kill 20 in Niger
By DREW HINSHAW in Accra, Ghana and GÉRALDINE
AMIEL in Paris
The Wall Street Journal
May 2013
Suicide bombers killed 20 people in separate
attacks on a military base and a uranium-mining site in Niger on Thursday, with
government officials saying the twin strikes were likely the work of militants
from Mali.
The attacks underline the risk that multiple
Islamic wars in the Sahara could spill over into previously peaceful Niger.
Just before dawn on Thursday, a vehicle drove
into a barracks in the remote and centuries-old trading town of Agadez,
exploding and killing 19 soldiers there while injuring more than a dozen, said
government spokesman Marou Amadou.
The government was seeking more information on
whether some soldiers were taken hostages by militants in the town, Mr. Amadou
said.
French nuclear-engineering company Areva SA AREVA.FR -3.80% said its uranium mine in Arlit, about 100 miles north of Agadez, was also attacked
by a car bomb early Thursday, killing one of its employees and wounding 14
others.
The U.S. military has been considering Agadez
as a possible base to fly the surveillance drones it deployed to Niger earlier
this year as part of a broader international effort to search for and fight al
Qaeda and other Islamist guerrilla fighters in North and West Africa.
Areva, which has been a
target for Islamist kidnappings and attacks over the past three years, said
Niger authorities would reinforce security around its production sites. Areva has been mining uranium in the former French colony
for the past 40 years.
Niger's presidency was meeting Thursday to
discuss how soldiers would help protect the country's vast uranium mines, said
Ousmane Toudou, media aide to President Mahamadou Issoufou. Uranium accounts for roughly a third of
the country's exports, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Officials in the presidency suspect the bombers
came from the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, Mr. Toudou added.
That small group of Malian fundamentalists spent
2012 imposing strict Islamic law on Mali's north. When French soldiers moved
into northern Mali in January and February, the Islamist rebels fled, but have
since returned to stage periodic attacks on Malian towns.
Niger, meanwhile, has enjoyed a period of peace
and economic growth in recent years, even as three of its neighbors—Nigeria,
Mali and Libya—have erupted in war since 2011.
Earlier this month, the government of a fourth
neighbor, Chad, said it had quashed a coup attempt. Last week, southern
neighbor Nigeria said it was shutting much of its border with Niger and sending
thousands of troops into the border areas in pursuit of a an
Islamic insurgency called Boko Haram.
"Niger is in the middle of all these
problems," said Mr. Amadou.
Niger has also posted troops along its other
borders to help stop the flow of militants and arms coming in and out of Mali
and Libya. But securing country borders across the vast Sahara remains
difficult, analysts say.
Niger is a strategic site for Areva, which has 2,700 employees and 5,000 subcontractors
in the country. Niger accounted for about one-third of the group's uranium
output last year.
One Areva employee
and three workers of French construction company Vinci SA, DG.FR -2.00% who
were kidnapped in Niger in late 2010, are still being held hostages by al
Qaeda-affiliated militants in the Sahara region.