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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Niger weakened by Al-Qaeda |
| 2011-01-29 |
| [Ennahar] The civilian who will take control of Niger after the presidential election will succeed where the military junta in power for one year, failed: containing the threat of Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who multiplies the kidnapping of Westerners. January 7, jihadists have inflicted on the Nigerian authorities for their transition more serious blow by removing in central Niamey, in the most secure area of the capital, two young French, killed the next day during a rescue Franco Niger-Mali operation. Operating in the Sahel-Sahara band on the borders of Mauritania, Algeria, Mali and Niger, AQIM still retains five French, a Togolese and a Malagasy kidnapped in September 2010 on an uranium mining site north Niger. "We take very seriously the threat that could destabilize our country so fragile," said a Nigerian minister on condition of anonymity, who acknowledged that the fight against AQIM is a "huge challenge". In one of the poorest countries of the world, it's first "the weakness of the Nigerian state, the army and administration" in the desert areas of the north, breeding ground of AQIM, which is involved, says historian Djibo Hamani of Niger. To monitor an area of some 1.2 million km2, the power has only a few thousand soldiers of modest means. The military junta in place since February 2010 and until the inauguration of new president in April, said to take the measure of danger. It announced in mid-January that it would redefine its strategy against the "terrorists", but revealed nothing of his plans. |
| Posted by:Fred |