Niger targets jihadist financing, kills 13 in illegal gold mine raids
NIAMEY, June 16 (Reuters) - Niger's army has raided jihadist-controlled informal mining sites in the country's west, killing more than a dozen insurgents and seizing material linked to the manufacture of improvised explosive devices, it said.
An army statement said the raids took place last week in the Tagueye locality, near Niger's western border with Burkina Faso. It said 13 insurgents were killed and one arrested.
"Previously under the control of armed terrorist groups, these sites have been dismantled and systematically rendered inoperative," said the army statement released over the weekend.
The raids "aimed at drying up the sources of financing for terrorist activities", it said.
Like Sahel neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger is battling an insurgency by jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State that have killed thousands and taken control of villages in its western border and the south.
The military-ruled government expelled French forces, turning instead to Russia to help fight the insurgents.
Ryan Cummings, director of the Africa-focused intelligence firm Signal Risk, said the raids may have temporarily disrupted illicit gold mining, but cutting off insurgents' financing required stronger efforts.
"The minute state forces depart areas and mining sites with militant presence, the same actors can return to these deposits and restart operations," Cummings said.
The insurgency in Niger has further battered the economy in Niger, where around 4.5 million people, or 17% of the population, required aid in 2024, according to the United Nations.
In May, eight staff of privately-owned Nguvu Mining, which operates the Samira Hill gold mine southwest of the capital Niamey, were killed when the military-escorted bus they were travelling in ran over an IED, a company executive told Reuters.
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Reuters
16 hours ago
- Reuters
Niger targets jihadist financing, kills 13 in illegal gold mine raids
NIAMEY, June 16 (Reuters) - Niger's army has raided jihadist-controlled informal mining sites in the country's west, killing more than a dozen insurgents and seizing material linked to the manufacture of improvised explosive devices, it said. An army statement said the raids took place last week in the Tagueye locality, near Niger's western border with Burkina Faso. It said 13 insurgents were killed and one arrested. "Previously under the control of armed terrorist groups, these sites have been dismantled and systematically rendered inoperative," said the army statement released over the weekend. The raids "aimed at drying up the sources of financing for terrorist activities", it said. Like Sahel neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger is battling an insurgency by jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda and Islamic State that have killed thousands and taken control of villages in its western border and the south. The military-ruled government expelled French forces, turning instead to Russia to help fight the insurgents. Ryan Cummings, director of the Africa-focused intelligence firm Signal Risk, said the raids may have temporarily disrupted illicit gold mining, but cutting off insurgents' financing required stronger efforts. "The minute state forces depart areas and mining sites with militant presence, the same actors can return to these deposits and restart operations," Cummings said. The insurgency in Niger has further battered the economy in Niger, where around 4.5 million people, or 17% of the population, required aid in 2024, according to the United Nations. In May, eight staff of privately-owned Nguvu Mining, which operates the Samira Hill gold mine southwest of the capital Niamey, were killed when the military-escorted bus they were travelling in ran over an IED, a company executive told Reuters.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
How JNIM wey get link wit al-Qaeda take turn one of di most deadly terror groups for Africa
Surging jihadist violence wey dey sweep across Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger dey make pipo worry say di Sahel region for West Africa fit dey destabilised. One umbrella group wey get link wit al-Qaeda dey claim say na dem do most of di attacks but who dem be and wetin dem want? Who be JNIM? Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) don turn one of di most deadly jihadist groups for Africa just within small time. Dem form am for Mali, and now JNIM dey operate across di Sahel, one big desert region wey cover 10 kontris from di west coast of Africa go reach di east side. Pipo believe say na dem cause more dan half of all di political violence wey bin happun for Central Sahel from March 2017 reach September 2023. For 2024, about 19% of all terrorist attacks for di whole world and more dan half of all deaths wey relate to terrorism happun for di Sahel, according to di 2025 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), wey di Institute for Economics and Peace publish. E dey hard to know how many fighters dey for JNIM or how many dem just recruit, experts dey tok say e fit reach thousands – mostly young, local men. How dem form JNIM and wetin dem want? Dem create JNIM for 2017 – na wen four Islamist militant groups wey dey operate for North Africa and Sahel join body: Ansar Dine, Katibat Macina, al-Mourabitoun and di Sahara branch of Al-Qaeda in di Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Na Iyad Ag Ghali, one former Malian diplomat wey come from di mostly Muslim Tuareg ethnic group, dey lead di group. E later lead Tuareg uprisings against Malian goment for 2012, wey wan create independent state for northern Mali. Dem still get one deputy leader, Amadou Koufa, wey come from di Fulani community. Analysts believe say dis central leadership dey help guide local branches of JNIM wey extend across di Sahel - network wey dey known as di 'katibat'. JNIM dey post text and video for dia social media accounts for ChirpWire and Telegram through one media arm wey dem dey call al-Zallaqa. Di group tok say dem wan replace goment wit conservative Islamic law and governance. Dem don also tok bifor say make foreign troops comot from Mali. Wia dem dey operate? JNIM start for central Mali but dem don expand fast, dey claim say na dem do attacks for Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin, Niger and Ivory Coast. Di group dey active now for all di regions of Mali and 11 out of 13 regions for Burkina Faso, na wetin Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC) tok. Burkina Faso don turn di main place wia di group dey operate – mostly for di northern and eastern border areas. From January-May 2025, JNIM claim say dem do over 240 attacks – double wetin dem do for same time for 2024, according to data wey BBC verify. JNIM dey show say dem dey for big parts of Mali and Burkina Faso. Members of di group dey collect 'tax' from villages – dem dey call am zakat – dem dey force pipo to wear certain clothes and dem dey create roadblocks wey pipo go pay bifor dem fit enta or comot, na wetin Beverly Ochieng, senior analyst for Control Risk, one global consultancy firm tok. Dis kain Islam fit no match di one wey local pipo dey practice, na wetin Yvan Guichaoua, senior researcher for Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies, tok. "Dis kain practice no follow wetin pipo don dey do bifor and e no too popular," im tok. "But whether pipo like am or not, e still depend on wetin goment fit provide, and many pipo don dey disappointed wit wetin goment don dey do for years." JNIM attacks dey increase? Di group do more dan 3000 attacks for Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger last year, Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) tok. Ochieng explain say di group dey use different tactics to cause wahala. "Dem dey plant IEDs (improved explosive devices) for important roads, and dem get long-range power." "Dem (still) dey attack security forces for military bases, so many of di weapons wey dem get na from dia. Dem don also attack civilians – especially wen dem tink say di community dey work wit goment," she add. Attacks don turn more violent and dey happun more often for di past few months. Di group tok say na dem do one big attack for June for one Malian town wey dem dey call Boulikessi, wia 30 soldiers die, Reuters sources tok. Reuters report say more dan 400 soldiers don die from insurgents since di start of May for military bases and towns across Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, wey don shake di already unstable region wey dey see coups. "Di number of attacks for last week na somtin we never see bifor," Guichaoua tok. "Dem don really increase wetin dem dey do recently." Even though press freedom don reduce and many media houses – newspapers and TV stations – don close afta di coups for Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, e mean say di number of attacks wey dem fit trace to militant groups fit even pass wetin we know. Military coups happun for Niger for 2023, Burkina Faso for 2022 and Mali for 2020. How JNIM dey get money? JNIM dey get money from different ways. Bifor, dem dey kidnap foreign pipo and ask for ransom and dem dey collect money from pipo wey dey pass through routes for minerals and animals. "Cattle-rustling na one big way wey JNIM dey get money," one GI-TOC analyst wey tok to BBC yarn. Di analyst no gree make dem call im name becos e fit put am for danger. "Mali dey export plenty cattle so e easy for dem to thief animals and sell." GI-TOC research show say for just one year and one district, JNIM make about FCFA 440 million ($768,000 USD). If we use dis figure, JNIM fit dey make millions from cattle theft. "Gold mines na anoda big source of money, dem dey collect tax from pipo wey dey enta and comot from dia area." U.S Africa Command oga Gen. Michael Langley tell US reporters last week say e believe say one of JNIM main goals na to control di coastline, so dat "dem fit fund dia operations through smuggling, human-trafficking and arms trade." Wetin dey happun wit counter-insurgency? France army bin dey help Mali goment for almost 10 years wit ova 4,000 soldiers wey dey fight groups like JNIM for di Sahel. Even though dem get some success for 2013 and 2014, recova land from jihadist groups and kill some big commanders, e be like say dem no fit stop JNIM growth. "Counter-insurgency neva work becos pipo dey tink say dem fit beat JNIM wit force, but na only negotiation fit end di group," GI-TOC analyst tok. Few years ago, Sahel kontris join bodi form G5 Sahel Task Force, one 5000-man international troop. But for di past few years, Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger don comot, wey don make di task force weak to fight di insurgency. MINUSMA, di United Nations peacekeeping force – even though no be anti-terrorism force – bin dey Mali for 10 years to help, but dem comot for di kontri end of 2024. Wetin military coups cause for JNIM? Reports show say deaths for Sahel don triple since 2020, wen di first military coup happun for Mali. Bad governance under di military rulers for Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger don make militant groups like JNIM grow, na wetin analysts tok. Di juntas quick tell French soldiers make dem comot, and dem replace dem wit Russian support and one joint force wey di three Sahel kontris form. But now, Russian paramilitary group wey dem dey call Wagner don dey pull all dia soldiers comot from Mali. For Burkina Faso, one army wey dem dey call 'volunteer' na one way wey dem dey use fight militants. Di president, Ibrahim Traore, don tok say e wan recruit 50,000 fighters. But experts dey tok say many of dis volunteers na by force dem take carry dem, and becos dem no train well, dem dey suffer plenty casualties. Di military juntas demsefs don still get accusation from human rights groups say dem dey do bad tins to civilians, especially pipo from Fulani community, say dem dey work wit militia groups, wey dey prevent peace efforts. From January 2024 reach March 2025, na state forces and dia Russian partners bin cause 1486 civilian deaths for Mali, almost five times wetin JNIM do, GI-TOC tok. Dis kain serious violence against civilians don make pipo vex for goment, and e dey make more pipo join JNIM. As di kontris dey struggle to stop di insurgency, pipo dey fear say JNIM go continue to spread across all di Sahel.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
How Trump's Africa strategy may become a double-edged sword
With US President Donald Trump on a cost-cutting warpath since starting his second term, aid to Africa has been slashed and now defence spending is in his sights - but could these approaches cost more in the long run?The phrase his administration presses on Europe to assume more of the costs of its own defence is "burden sharing". This is the challenge that Washington is now throwing down to African armies too - and they are far less comfortably resourced to take it having paid dearly in lives and money, in the struggle to hold back the spreading reach of jihadist armed groups across the Sahel, the Lake Chad basin and Somalia over recent years, they could be forgiven for feeling that they already carry much of the burden - and for the sake not just of their own continent but the wider international community which has lost more than 80 soldiers in jihadist attacks since the start of the year, is just one example. "The epicentre of terrorism on the globe" is how the Sahel was described a few days ago by Gen Michael Langley, who as head of US Africa Command (Africom) oversees the American military presence south of the briefings and interviews over the past few weeks, he has graphically outlined the threat that jihadist groups will present if their push southward towards the Gulf of Guinea succeeds."One of the terrorists' new objectives is gaining access to West African coasts. If they secure access to the coastline, they can finance their operations through smuggling, human trafficking and arms trading. This not only puts African nations at risk but also raises the chance of threats reaching US shores."Gen Langley has admitted that the current upsurge in militant attacks is "deeply concerning".Yet he has also repeatedly hammered home a core message: the US is minded to rein back its own sub-Saharan military operations, leaving local armies to take on more of the defence 6,500 personnel are currently deployed in Africa by the US military and a 2019 list published by Africom mentioned 13 "enduring" American bases across the continent and a further 17 more temporary some of these installations, including the purpose-built drone base at Agadez in Niger, have already been shut down, in particular after military juntas seized power in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso since it now looks as if the once-ambitious American operational footprint will be pruned back quite a lot we will see more air power deployed from offshore to hit militant targets - Gen Langley says there have been 25 strikes in Somalia this year, double the 2024 total - but a much thinner permanent on-the-ground military presence."Some things that we used to do, we may not do anymore," he recently told a conference in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, that brought together chiefs of defence staff and other senior officers from 37 countries."Our aim is not to serve as a permanent crutch, but to achieve US security objectives that overlap with our partners. We should be able to help African nations build the self-reliance they need to independently confront terrorism and insurgencies."In the bluntness of his language Gen Langley reflects the stark change of outlook and policy that has come from January's change of power at the White House."We have set our priorities now - protecting the homeland."What matters to the no-longer-so-new Trump II administration, the general made clear in a Pentagon publication last week, is fighting terrorists - particularly those who might attack the priorities are countering the spread of Chinese military influence across Africa and protecting freedom of maritime navigation through key trade choke points such as the Strait of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and the Bab el-Mandab Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea. In some respects, the focus on training and capacity building that Gen Langley now expounds is not so very different from the approach of previous American administrations, Republican as well as lauds the National Guard State Partnership Program, through which individual US states have been helping to build the capacity of government security forces across Africa and other parts of the world - for the past three too is pursuing this approach, with the closure of bases in Chad and Senegal, while those in Ivory Coast and Gabon have been handed over to their governments, with only small French training teams left behind to work alongside African in other respects, the Trump administration's Africa strategy represents a drastic shrinkage in outlook and - critics might argue - a conscious retreat from addressing the factors that drive instability, conflict and terrorism, particularly in the Sahel, which is among the poorest regions on the under President Joe Biden the US looked far beyond the military realm alone in its efforts to counter the both the growing reach of jihadist groups and other sources of violence. And Gen Langley, as Africom chief, was an articulate exponent of this much broader last year, in an interview with the Associated Press news agency, he outlined what he described as a "whole of government" response to the proliferation of conflict, stressing the importance of good governance and action to tackle the fragilities of African states and the impacts of desertification, crop failure and environmental approach openly recognised that recruitment by armed groups and the spread of violence is fuelled not only by jihadist ideology, but also by a host of social and economic factors, including the stresses now afflicting farming and pastoralist Langley himself does not seem to have abandoned this analysis, recently noting how Ivory Coast had countered the jihadist threat to its northern border areas by complementing security force deployments with development could equally have pointed to the success of a similar approach pursued by the president of Niger, Mohamed Bazoum, before he was deposed in the July 2023 coup. But of course, these days Africom must operate within the context of a US foreign policy radically reshaped under are even rumours that it could be downgraded to become a subsidiary of the US command in Europe and Gen Langley suggests African governments should tell Washington what they thought of this the separate Africa unit at the radically slimmed down National Security Council at the White House is reportedly being wound up and integrated into the Middle East-North Africa director, Gen Jami Shawley, an Africa specialist appointed to the role only in March, has now been assigned to more general strategic Congress this week, Gen Langley warned about China's and Russia's African ambitions: Beijing's agility at capitalising on the US's absence and Moscow's ability to seize military opportunities created by chaos and these concerns, some might wonder if the general is discreetly signally his doubts about a slimmed down Africa under the "efficiency drive" led, until recently, by tech billionaire Elon Musk, the American government's main international development agencies, USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, have been effectively shut spine of the new US economic engagement with Africa is now private sector trade and business generally needs to operate in a stable and secure context - which Africa's most fragile and violence-prone regions cannot in winding up the American development agencies, the Trump administration has stepped aside from funding the rural projects and social programmes that sought to address land and water pressures and lack of economic opportunity, the key drivers of conflict - and the jihadist groups' recruitment of frustrated rural young the fragile regions that are the main sources of jihadist violence the US response is reduced to the purely military, and now it is seeking to shift even most of that on to the shoulders of African states that already struggle to respond adequately to a plethora of challenges and Melly is a consulting fellow with the Africa Programme at Chatham House in London. You may also be interested in: The region with more 'terror deaths' than rest of world combinedFreed captive tells BBC of life in West African jihadist baseWhy Trump is on the warpath in Somalia'My wife fears sex, I fear death' - impacts of the USAID freezeTrump's tariffs could be death knell for US-Africa trade pact Go to for more news from the African us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
