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Saving Niger’s Uranium Before Boko Haram Gets It
Things I hadn't thought about #47,013,225. Key bits:
[Spectator] Since February, Niger’s army has been battling Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
 in its Diffa region. It borders Nigeria's northeastern region where Boko Haram is trying to establish an Islamic state. This terrorist organization has killed more than 15,000 people and created 1.5 million refugees, some 100,000 of which are in Niger.

Niger's government has declared a state of emergency in Diffa. If Boko Haram could establish a base there, it would be within striking range of Niger's Agadez region. The country's uranium output is produced from three Agadez mines. Boko Haram, which has declared allegiance to the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....
, must not be allowed to control one of the world's largest reserves of uranium ore.

In Van Hipp's recent book, The New Terrorism, he proposes we help Niger deplete its uranium reserves before bandidos Lions of Islam can get them. The author is a friend and his efforts to bring attention to this issue are commendable.

This idea may take years to complete and Hipp believes we should coordinate with the French since French companies work in two of the main uranium mines. The third is run by the Chinese. The Chinese should be cooperative due to their long-term demand for energy.

We must also work with other G7 countries to push for economic aid to Niger in order to get them to extract as much uranium as possible. Intelligence cooperation against Boko Haram from Nigeria and potential Tuareg separatists in the north will also be crucial. Niger is one of the world's poorest countries. Uranium is its leading export. Our allies and we must make sure it's sold to the right people and that Niger has a way to safely keep the proceeds.
I don't know if safely keep the proceeds is possible for a reasonably corrupt, very poor Third World country... And then there's this:
If all politics is local in the United States, all politics in Africa is tribal. Van Hipp explains how Niger has experienced rebellions from Tuaregs in northern Niger where the uranium mines are located. The Tuareg are a Berber people, who have waged separatist rebellions in both Mali and Niger. The most recent one in Mali ended with a ceasefire a few months ago. We must not wait for another Tuareg rebellion before working to deplete Niger's stockpile.

Boko Haram is also a tribal phenomenon, as well as Islamic. Both the founder of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, and its current leader, Abubakar Shekau, are from the Kanuri tribe. While the Hausa and Fulani tribes make up much of the Moslem elite in Nigeria, the Kanuri are marginalized and live in the Borno State, its poorest area.
Posted by: trailing wife 2015-08-02
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=425099