African Arguments

Top Menu

  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Climate
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • Think African [Podcast]
    • #EndSARS
    • Into Africa [Podcast]
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Africa Science Focus [Podcast]
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Debating Ideas
  • About Us
    • Our philosophy
  • Write for us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter
  • RSS feed
  • Donate
  • Fellowship

logo

African Arguments

  • Home
  • Country
    • Central
      • Cameroon
      • Central African Republic
      • Chad
      • Congo-Brazzaville
      • Congo-Kinshasa
      • Equatorial Guinea
      • Gabon
    • East
      • Burundi
      • Comoros
      • Dijbouti
      • Eritrea
      • Ethiopia
      • Kenya
      • Rwanda
      • Seychelles
      • Somalia
      • Somaliland
      • South Sudan
      • Sudan
      • Tanzania
      • Uganda
      • Red Sea
    • North
      • Algeria
      • Egypt
      • Libya
      • Morocco
      • Tunisia
      • Western Sahara
    • Southern
      • Angola
      • Botswana
      • eSwatini
      • Lesotho
      • Madagascar
      • Malawi
      • Mauritius
      • Mozambique
      • Namibia
      • South Africa
      • Zambia
      • Zimbabwe
    • West
      • Benin
      • Burkina Faso
      • Cape Verde
      • Côte d’Ivoire
      • The Gambia
      • Ghana
      • Guinea
      • Guinea Bissau
      • Liberia
      • Mali
      • Mauritania
      • Niger
      • Nigeria
      • São Tomé and Príncipe
      • Senegal
      • Sierra Leone
      • Togo
  • Climate
  • Politics
    • Elections Map
  • Economy
  • Society
  • Culture
  • Specials
    • From the fellows
    • Radical Activism in Africa
    • On Food Security & COVID19
    • Think African [Podcast]
    • #EndSARS
    • Into Africa [Podcast]
    • Covid-19
    • Travelling While African
    • From the wit-hole countries…
    • Living in Translation
    • Africa Science Focus [Podcast]
    • Red Sea
    • Beautiful Game
  • Debating Ideas
Politics
Home›African Arguments›Politics›Niger and Gadaffi – fallout out from the Libyan crisis: ‘We have no means to close the border… It is too big’ – By Celeste Hicks

Niger and Gadaffi – fallout out from the Libyan crisis: ‘We have no means to close the border… It is too big’ – By Celeste Hicks

By Magnus Taylor
September 9, 2011
1937
0

Until last week, Niger’s main pre-occupation was the consolidation of democracy following peaceful elections in February. President Mahamadou Issoufou was determinedly continuing with an energetic anti-corruption drive in the face of an alleged coup plot back in July. This was a big enough job. There must have been some in the government who had one anxious eye on that notorious northern frontier – a place where Tuareg rebellions, AQIM fighters and more recently armed exiles from Libya rub shoulders – but it seems no-one predicted how quickly Niger would be flung into the spotlight.

Lost souls from the Libyan conflict have in fact been wandering over the border for the last six months – the International Organisation for Migration says that it has helped over one hundred thousand Nigeriens to return since February, most of them overland. Some of them have simply vanished with the spoils of war into the vast desert. And why not? The route from Sebha in southern Libya, veering westwards along the southern tip of Algeria, and then south to Arlit and Agadez is a well-trodden Saharan path. Many of the West African migrants attempting to reach Europe set off from Agadez and go in the other direction. The border with Algeria and Libya is just a line in the sand, and Niger lacks the resources to police it.

Until very recently, Niger seemed to be thinking that security in this area was improving. In August the government announced that it was suspending military escorts for humanitarian agencies travelling to the north. The MJN rebellion was long gone (finished in 2009), and there had been no further serious attacks by AQIM since the audacious hostage taking of two young French men in Niamey in January (both were killed).

But in a blink of the eye Agadez has descended into chaos, with the arrival on Sunday night of a convoy carrying Libya’s former Security chief Mansur Daw. This fact could have gone largely unnoticed by the world, if it hadn’t been for the comments of a French military source that a much larger convoy passed through Agadez on Monday night. Originally it was believed to be up to 250 vehicles – the number has been discredited, but it’s fairly certain that a major convoy did arrive. The source added that Gadaffi and his sons “˜may’ join it en route to Burkina Faso where there had been confused reports of asylum being offered. The resulting media circus is history.

Mansur Daw presented them with a dilemma – the arrival of such a high-profile Libyan could signal others were on their way, but he was also presumably a fairly desperate man and one they owed a debt of gratitude to. While Niamey is not as littered as N’Djamena or Bamako with tattered billboards of a smiling and waving Gadaffi, there are strong links between the Guide and President. Gadaffi has funded Issoufou’s political campaigns, and as with other Sahelian neighbours, Libya built roads, hotels and donated agricultural equipment. Tuaregs respect him for decades of support for their independence struggles. Many ordinary Nigeriens feel that Gadaffi has been their champion. There was clearly an obligation to help.

Reflecting on the FM’s comments that “We have no means to close the border… It is too big and we have very, very small means for that” shows the complexity of the problems facing them. If Gadaffi really was coming, should they let him pass on his way to Burkina Faso? Was he even going there? Should they turn a blind eye and let him disappear into the desert, or should they arrest him and hand him over to the ICC? Would they even be able to find him?

Their initial confused position did not help. On one hand they had recognised the TNC, on the other they said they hadn’t yet decided what to do if and when Gadaffi turned up. Suddenly thrown into the media glare, it was almost a whole day before journalists could get an official reaction – a delay which seemed to add fuel to the flames of rumour.

Crucial to their decision must have been the worry that Niger’s hard-earned reputation for achieving peace and democracy, which was just beginning to allow them to return to the international fold, was about to be destroyed. EU sanctions against Niger were dropped after Issoufou’s election, and USAID had just come back. Now the World’s Most Wanted Man could be arriving on their doorstep – what would happen if they reneged on their responsibilities to the ICC?

In the event it was a false alarm. Given the mass of attention now focused on Niger, Gadaffi may do well to look for a different exit route (the vast wastelands of Tibesti/Ennedi in Chad may look like an attractive retirement option). But the fact remains that the border is still a very dangerous place, and the Nigerien government’s inability to secure it has been laid bare. Niger has bought some time to come up with a coherent strategy; but not much.

Celeste Hicks is a freelance journalist with a focus on African issues. She has a particular interest in the Sahel.

Previous Article

Libya’s neighbours’ longer term – By Richard ...

Next Article

Sudan (North), Blue Nile and Southern Kordofan ...

Magnus Taylor

Magnus Taylor is a Horn of Africa Analyst at International Crisis Group, the independent conflict-prevention organisation.

Leave a reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Politics

    BZS Research Day 2014: Politics, Culture & Identity in Zimbabwe – By Diana Jeater

  • The forced eviction of Otodo Gbame, Lagos, in April 2017. Credit: Justice & Empowerment Initiative.
    FellowsNigeriaSociety

    “The scramble for Lagos” and the urban poor’s fight for their homes

  • Books and ControversiesDebating IdeasResponse PieceSomalia

    Writing Piracy in Somalia: Who Controls the Narrative and How?

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter


  • 81.7K+
    Followers

Find us on Facebook

Interactive Elections Map

Keep up to date with all the African elections.

Recent Posts

  • The two defining challenges facing South Africa
  • ‘Don’t Agonize, Organize!’ Remembering Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem’s Advocacy on Sudan
  • Four actions vulnerable countries need from COP28
  • Afrobeats: The birth of Afro-Adura
  • Sudan: How the generals disappeared the people on the way to the economy

Editor’s Picks

CultureEditor's PicksKenyaSociety

One day I will learn to speak my mother tongue

I know some people think local languages are second class and that speaking English indicates a superior IQ, but I’m not one of them. “Now I know that speaking good ...
  • women covid UN Women/Ryan Brown

    The pandemic has set gender equality back. Its legacy must not.

    By Nana Adjoa Hackman
    March 8, 2021
  • Best African books of 2022.

    The best African books of 2022

    By Samira Sawlani
    December 14, 2022
  • Those who migrate (or Japa) in Nigeria often keep plans secret until they are complete.

    Why are Nigerians keeping migration plans secret from their friends?

    By Kingsley Charles
    November 8, 2022
  • Africa COP27. UN Women/Joe Saade

    What African governments must fight for at COP27

    By Africa Climate Justice Collective
    October 11, 2022

Brought to you by


Creative Commons

Creative Commons Licence
Articles on African Arguments are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
  • Cookies
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
© Copyright African Arguments 2020
By continuing to browse this site, you agree to our use of cookies.