 Five people died when Niger government forces clashed with bandits claiming to be Tuareg rebels in the Air mountains in the desert north of the country, the government said. "Our defence and security forces who had launched an operation to pursue... the group in the Air mountains fell into an ambush," Interior Minister Albade Abouba said in a statement read on national radio on Tuesday. The minister said one soldier and four bandits had been killed in the ambush, which happened on 1 October in the mountain range 1,000 km northeast of the capital, Niamey. Another four soldiers were injured and two more were still missing, he said. Mohamed Ag Boula, the brother of Rhissa Ag Boula who used to lead the now-dissolved Air and Azaouak Liberation Front (FLAA) rebel group, claimed responsibility for the attack.
| "Yeah, we done it! We be Tuaregs! Yaaar!" |
Rhissa Ag Boula won a senior position in government as part of the 1995 peace deal, which brought a four-year Tuareg rebellion in northern Niger to an end. But in February he was sacked as tourism minister and shortly afterwards he was arrested in connection with the murder of an official in Niger's ruling party in the Tuareg stronghold of Agadez, 800 km northeast of Niamey.
| Guess he didn't take kindly to being sacked. |
"Honey, this year, instead of the Caymans, let's go to Niger!"
"Oh, yes, Herb! That'd be grand! Their tourism minister's sooooo nice!" |
In an interview with Radio France Internationale earlier this week, his brother Mohamed said he was personally responsible for the attack and that he was leading a 200-strong group which was fighting to defend the rights of the Tuareg, Toubou and Semori nomadic populations of northern Niger. "We are defending our rights in Niger. The current government has not implemented the 1995 accords. Besides, we are demanding the liberation of all members of the ex-rebellion currently in detention," Mohamed told the French radio station. Niger's interior minister said the 1 October assailants were the same people who had carried out attacks on vehicles along the main trans-Sahara highway in northern Niger over the last few months.
| The Tuareg have been doing this since the days of camel caravans. |
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