{"id":1550,"date":"2011-04-14T11:09:27","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T16:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=1550"},"modified":"2016-05-08T11:09:46","modified_gmt":"2016-05-08T16:09:46","slug":"new-niger-president-says-training-weapons-and-intelligence-needed-in-fight-against-al-qaeda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/?p=1550","title":{"rendered":"New Niger President Says Training, Weapons and Intelligence Needed in Fight against al-Qaeda"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew McGregor<\/strong><\/p>\n

April 14, 2011<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mahamadou Issoufou, the newly elected president of Niger, laid out his vision of a more active and cooperative military response to the threat posed to regional security by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). His views were presented in an interview with Beret Vert<\/em>, a Niger Army review (Ennaha<\/em>r [Algiers], April 8; AFP, April 8).<\/p>\n

\"Niger<\/a>Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Issoufou was sworn in as the newly elected president of Niger on April 8, the culmination of a successful democratic transition following the February 2010 military coup that overthrew President Mamadou Tandja. The new president faces enormous problems in stabilizing Niger, where severe economic pressures make smuggling, banditry, insurrection or even employment by AQIM seem like rational opportunities for restless young men. Niger was ranked 167 out of 169 states measured in the 2010 UN Human Development Index. Despite the economic pressures, the new president has promised the military better arms, training and equipment (AFP, April 8).<\/p>\n

Warning that AQIM has the potential to destabilize the \u201cwhole of the Sahara,\u201d Issoufou said the \u201ccountries of the north\u201d were \u201cindispensable\u201d for training and equipping Niger\u2019s defense and security forces. Suggesting that Niger\u2019s military was operating \u201cblind\u201d in the vast desert regions of northern Niger, the new president urged Western cooperation in intelligence matters. He also supported the further growth of the joint Sahel intelligence center in Tamanrasset (Centre de Renseignement sur le Sahel – CRS) established by the intelligence chiefs of Algeria, Niger, Mali and Mauritania on October 7, 2010 (see L\u2019Expression<\/em> [Abidjan], October 7).\u00a0 Issoufou said he envisaged Niger\u2019s military deployed in new barracks and forward posts throughout the country, including the deployment of Nigerien Special Forces in strategic frontier zones.<\/p>\n

Niger\u2019s own army, the roughly 8,000 man Forces Arm\u00e9es Nigeriennes (FAN), is dominated by members of the Djerma-Songhai, historical rivals of the Saharan Tuareg of northern Niger. Fees from uranium concessions form an important part of the military\u2019s funding. The Tuareg have urged military recruitment in northern Niger, which would help end local perceptions of the army as an occupation force.<\/p>\n

Only hours after his inauguration, Issoufou took an important step towards reconciliation with Niger\u2019s Tuareg community by appointing Brigi Rafini, an Agadez Tuareg, as his new Prime Minister. Like Issoufou, Rafini was a former minister in the government of President Ibrahim Bare Mainassara, who was assassinated by members of his own bodyguard with a truck-mounted machine gun in 1999.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in the April 14, 2011 issue of the Jamestown Foundation\u2019s Terrorism Monitor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew McGregor April 14, 2011 Mahamadou Issoufou, the newly elected president of Niger, laid out his vision of a more active and cooperative military response to the threat posed to regional security by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). His … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-niger","category-tuareg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1550\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aberfoylesecurity.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}