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The Guardian
01-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Niger's junta withdraws from Lake Chad anti-Islamist force
Niger's ruling junta has quit a regional force fighting armed Islamist groups in west Africa's Lake Chad area, cementing an acrimonious split from former allies in the region. The decision to exit the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) was announced in a bulletin on state television over the weekend. The move 'reflects a stated intent to reinforce security for oil sites', the bulletin stated, without providing further details. The MNJTF was formed in 2015 by Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria in the wake of increasing jihadist attacks across their territories. At its peak, it had an estimated 10,000 troops and fought many armed groups, especially Boko Haram and its offshoots. But any serious progress has been hampered or even undone by poor collaboration and equipping, analysts say. 'The force was never that effective, said Ulf Laessing, the Bamako-based director of the Sahel programme at Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a German thinktank. Its decline, he added, was 'good news for jihadists and it is bad news for villagers on the lake side, fishers or farmers who just want to go about their business but who will now get less military support'. Niger's exit from MNJTF came days after the junta's leader, Abdourahmane Tiani, was sworn in as president until 2030 under a new charter that suspended the constitution and dissolved all political parties. Niger has also isolated itself from the Economic Community of West African State (Ecowas), after Ecowas imposed a range of sanctions following the coup that ousted the democratically elected president, Mohamed Bazoum, in July 2023. Within two months of the coup, it had joined the splinter Alliance of Sahel States (AES) along with Burkina Faso and Mali, where there have also been military takeovers since 2020. Since then, AES has introduced new biometric passports to replace the old regional passports and on Monday, it announced a 0.5% levy on imported goods from Ecowas states. Ikemesit Effiong, managing partner at Nigerian geopolitical risk advisory SBM Intelligence, said the levy put an end to 'a long history of free trade across the western Sahel' and could change the dynamics of Ecowas's negotiations with AES. 'When squared with Ecowas's statement commitment to keep open trade and borders with AES states, I think this [levy] will force Ecowas to drop its kids' gloves strategy and be more forceful with the AES,' Effiong said. It remains unclear what impact Niger's withdrawal from the MNJTF will have on a security agreement signed with neighbouring Nigeria last August. Both countries share centuries of history and a border that spans 1,000 miles but Nigeria-led Ecowas's push for a rapid return to democratic governance has caused friction between both countries. Effiong said recent moves in the capital, Niamey, which has been seeking new military and economic partners since expelling French troops in 2023, are unsurprising. 'Niger has been pulling out of all its main regional bilateral and multilateral commitments, much of which it sees as western influenced or inspired,' said Effiong, who noted that MTNJTF had received military and intelligence aid from western partners in the past.
Washington Post
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
The defiant broadcaster
Military strongmen have silenced their critics and muzzled the media, threatening, arresting and exiling those who speak out for democracy. A few still dare. BAMAKO, Mali — As four years of coups have transformed the Sahel, military juntas have repeatedly targeted journalists and advocates for democracy. When the coup-makers in Mali suspended that country's biggest French-run broadcasters in 2022, many here celebrated, welcoming the decision as a blow against their former colonial power. Many others were silent, too frightened to voice their concern. Mohamed Attaher Halidou, a journalist at one of the best-known local television stations, was among the few who spoke up. 'If they start with the foreign media,' he recalled thinking, 'they will end with us.' Any nerves that he felt, Attaher said, were eclipsed by indignation. 'The muzzling of the press is never a good thing for democracy,' Attaher warned, speaking on air just one day after Radio France Internationale and France 24 television were suspended. As he stared into the camera, his voice was steady and his eyes serious. 'The role of the press in a democracy is to provide information,' he said. 'The press is neither for those in power nor against them.' Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Military strongmen have rolled back decades of democratic progress in places such as Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Those who dare dissent have been harassed, imprisoned without trial and threatened with death. In Mali, soldiers led by Col. Assimi Goïta carried out a coup in 2020, ousting the elected president. As many other Malian journalists were swept along by the anti-French frenzy, Attaher — the 40-year-old director of information at Bamako-based Joliba TV — declared on his show that too many of them were trying to get close to, rather than scrutinize, those in power. Even as he projected confidence, however, Attaher had a dark premonition about his own's station's destiny. Attaher with guests before the start of his show. Journalists in the editing suite during Attaher's show. The first notice The initial warning arrived in Joliba TV's office a few months later, delivered by courier. The station had broadcast Attaher's interview with a former Malian cabinet minister who had gone into exile after the junta accused him of corruption. Now, Mali's media authority was alleging that by airing the interview, Joliba had failed in 'observing the principles of balance and fairness.' If Joliba did not do better in the future, the letter warned, the station would face unspecified penalties. Attaher has a friendly face and an easy smile. But they belie a legendary stubborn streak, and Attaher said there had never been any hesitation about broadcasting the interview. He said the former minister had deserved the chance to respond publicly to the accusations against him, even if that might upset the government. Attaher and his colleagues sent off a reply defending their coverage and resolved not to change tack. As he told the journalism class he taught at a local university, the principles of good journalism include a commitment to the truth and a willingness to question those in power. Mali, a nation of 23 million, has long experience with a free and robust press, starting in the early 1990s when the country turned to democracy, and free speech remains enshrined in Mali's constitution. For a generation, the country was widely seen as a regional political model and became a U.S. ally and large recipient of American aid. In 2012, amid an insurgency by ethnic rebels, the military seized power. Democracy was later restored, but early in this decade, soldiers took control again with a pair of coups, blaming the elected government for failing to curb violence by Islamist militants. Over the past five years, the military junta has increasingly targeted journalists, including by accusing them of violating anti-defamation laws. Attaher suspected his station could be flirting with the same fate as the French broadcasters. Attaher with his wife, Dija Attaher, at home in Bamako. The second notice Attaher's phone would not stop ringing on the morning that the second warning arrived. Friends, family, colleagues, everyone wanted to know: Had he seen the letter? While the initial warning had arrived quietly at the station, this one had been leaked first on social media. And this time, the language was more menacing. 'The program of Joliba TV NEWS, shared at sensitive time, contained unfounded allegations and defamatory passages,' read the letter from the media authority, which had intensified its scrutiny of journalists since the coup. It accused Attaher of violating journalistic ethics and ordered station executives to present themselves at a hearing. Attaher had provoked the junta by criticizing the prime minister in a particularly hard-hitting segment in which he had warned that the country was suffering from a 'dictatorship of one-track thinking.' Pressure on the station was running high. Young journalists said that when they wore their Joliba T-shirts, they were accosted by junta supporters on motorcycles and berated. Attaher recounted receiving Facebook messages labeling him a traitor and threatening calls from strangers cautioning him not to go too far, or telling him that he already had. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement That same month, one of his friends decided to flee the country after receiving death threats following his work on a documentary about the activities of Russia's Wagner mercenaries in Mali. Foreign journalists had been expelled, a group of Malian women had been arrested for their Facebook posts, and government critics had been detained for months. For his security, Attaher started to limit his movements and stopped meeting people he did not know. He made plans for his family in case he was detained, he said. Sensing that the station's closing was imminent, he decided to write what he feared might be his last editorial, titled 'Right to the Truth,' explaining his side of the story. He argued in the editorial that his journalistic work 'was done according to the rules of the trade' and accused the government of a 'diabolical plan' to close Joliba TV. His wife — who in the early days after the coup had supported the military leaders and asked him to tone down his criticism just a bit — was livid. She feared he had gone too far for his own good, and she refused that day to take his phone calls. Joliba TV staffers at the station's news meeting. Attaher with journalism students in Bamako. Pulling the plug The media authority was also furious. For nearly two hours, a panel of officials lectured Birama Konaré, Joliba TV's owner, without letting him get a word in, he recounted. That afternoon, officials called a news conference to announce that the Joliba television broadcast and website had been suspended for two months because of 'misconduct and violation of ethical standards.' At the station the next day, Attaher and Konaré told the staff that no one would lose their jobs and that they would be reassigned to the Joliba radio station, which had been given a pass. But Attaher said he struggled with guilt, worried about the future of the TV station and its young journalists, many of whom he'd recruited from his journalism classes. In one testy exchange during an all-newsroom meeting, some of them challenged him, asking if his ego was going to cost them their jobs. He feared they could be right. Story continues below advertisement Advertisement Backlash This time, though, the public reaction was dramatically different. Activists, journalists and ordinary citizens rose to Joliba's defense. Even for many who supported the junta, the suspension of an outlet widely seen by Malians as fair and independent was a bridge too far. Foreign media also covered the suspension, raising its profile. One day, Attaher said he received a call from a professor who had watched Attaher's final commentary and felt compelled to reach out. 'We support you,' he declared, starting to cry. Attaher rushed to end the conversation before he, too, teared up. After only a month, the media authority gave Joliba a reprieve. The authority said it had taken note of the appeals from other media, including newspapers and even rival TV networks. The station could return to the air. In the newsroom, Attaher and Konaré recounted, celebration was muted. The staff was still reeling after the previous few months and struggling to figure out what they could and could not say on air. But the decision marked a rare example of Mali's government bending to domestic and foreign public pressure, and revealed the power, however modest, that Mali's people still retained. A crack had opened in the silence the junta had imposed. Attaher appears on a TV in his home, as well as in a portrait, at left, made by a doctor who came to the station to say Attaher was his hero. Going dark The summons arrived at the station in November. This time, the government had taken offense at a discussion Attaher had hosted about developments in neighboring Burkina Faso, ruled by a junta closely allied with Mali's. On air, he had asked his guests to opine about reports that the Burkinabe intelligence services had thwarted a plot to overthrow the military government there. He played a clip from Burkina Faso's national television, showing masked soldiers and suitcases full of cash that the newscaster said had been meant to finance the plot. Attaher's guests shook their heads and laughed. One of his regulars, Malian politician Issa K. Djim, said the events had clearly been staged and suggested that Burkina Faso's government was trying to distract its population from the country's worsening security situation. The reaction was swift. Burkina Faso complained to Mali. Djim was arrested, and just three days after the segment aired, Mali's media authority summoned Joliba executives. Once again, there was an outpouring of support for the station. Other Malian broadcasters vowed to simultaneously air the segment in a show of solidarity. But this time, it was to no avail. On Nov. 26, Joliba went dark, and shortly after was given a six-month suspension notice. Negotiations over returning Joliba to the air are ongoing, but the future remains uncertain. Attaher is wondering if it is finally time to leave Mali.
