Latest news with #Nigeria-Niger
DW
06-08-2025
- Politics
- DW
The hidden cost of peace in northern Nigeria – DW – 08/06/2025
In northern Nigeria, some communities have resorted to 'paying' bandit groups to secure some level of peace. But doing so could put the integrity of the nation at risk, analysts warn. Along the Sokoto-Zamfara state line, close to the Nigeria-Niger border, the villages of Sabon Birni and Isa have been abandoned. To avoid the same fate, some other villages have tried to strike peace deals with local bandit groups. This comes after years of failed efforts from the Nigerian state to stamp out armed non-state actors from terrorizing rural communities in the northern Nigerian states of Zamfara, Sokoto and Katsina. Numerous villagers who spoke to DW told of family members being abducted and killed. Their livelihoods, which primarily consist of farming sorghum, millet, and livestock, and then trading their produce in nearby market towns, have been severely disrupted. Not only are local families facing a growing food shortage due to farms being abandoned or their harvests being looted, but Nigeria's entire northern region — historically the nation's agricultural heartland — can no longer produce enough food. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "We have been pleading for peace. We want to live and farm in peace. We have no access to our farms. We have to beg before we can feed our families," Suraju Mohammed from Sokoto told DW, adding that nothing is more important than peace. Peacebuilding analyst Dengiyefa Angalapu from the Lagos-based Centre for Democracy and Development describes the hard choices faced by villagers as "the failure of the social contract between the Nigerian government and the Nigerian people." Seeking a peace deal with violent non-state actors becomes "a rational survival calculus," he told DW. "Communities know these actors. They will tell you: "I know his father, I know his mother. This person grew up with us," Angalapu said. Farmers who want to return to their fields to produce food for their families risk abductions or face taxes imposed on them by the violent groups. Bandit territories overlap, so even if a peace deal is reached with one group in exchange for protection fees, fuel, and or food sharing, another group does not necessarily respect this. Recently, armed bandits on motorbikes rode into Zamfara State's Sabongarin Damri, killing 11 people and kidnapping at least 70 others, including women and children. "We want an end to the bloodshed. So, we are in support of the deal," Suraju Mohammed told DW, "We want the killings to stop and live peacefully." Analysts and international observers say there are areas of Nigeria now no longer considered under the government's control. For national security, this has severe implications. "There is now some level of parallel governance," Angalapu told DW. Negotiations with the violent gangs give the gangs some level of legitimacy in the eyes of the citizens, he said, which makes it difficult to stop them recruiting. "They tell communities: 'We are actually fighting for you. This government cannot protect you' — so in the long run it is very disadvantageous for national security." But on a local level, Angalapu says communities have little choice. "It's not as though they want these peace agreements. It's an act of survival. We have to strengthen the state capacity to protect these communities," he told DW. But for some community members like Aisha Tukur from Zamfara State making peace with the bandits is unacceptable: "They killed eight people in Turmi, four in Damne, three in Dauku. So, how do we make peace with that? There would not be any reconciliation between us. They should be prosecuted. They are heartless. They don't listen to our pleas." Local state governments have been battling violent non-state actors for years. But so far, neither mediation efforts, de-radicalization campaigns, nor force through armed patrols and airstrikes from the Nigerian military have brought long-lasting stability. Umaimah Abubakar fled the farming village of Ranganda, about 50 km (31 miles) north of Sokoto city, and now lives in an internally displaced peoples' camp. "The government hasn't really done anything for us except for paying ransoms whenever the bandits demanded. Even after that, the bandits would still come back months later," Abubakar told DW. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Bandit gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states. The unrest is believed to have started from clashes between herders and farmers over land and resources, but later evolved into a broader conflict fueled by arms trafficking made possible by insecurity in the Sahel region. To make matters worse, the violence is spreading from the northwest, and the gangs are becoming increasingly well-armed and coordinated. Increasing cooperation between the criminal gangs, who are primarily motivated by money, and jihadists — who are waging a separate, 16-year-old-armed insurrection in the northeast — has seen attacks worsen. Western monitors suggest bandits killed more civilians than the jihadists did from 2018 to 2023.
Reuters
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
At least 16 reported killed in northwest Nigeria as villagers battle militants
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria, April 7 (Reuters) - At least 16 people were killed during a clash between local security forces and Lakurawa insurgents who had raided villages in Nigeria's northwestern state of Kebbi, a police source and residents said on Monday. The Islamist Lakurawa group emerged after the July 2023 coup in Niger from herding communities along the Nigeria-Niger border. The Reuters Tariff Watch newsletter is your daily guide to the latest global trade and tariff news. Sign up here. Nigeria has also been grappling with a long-running insurgency in its northeast, primarily driven by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). One Kebbi resident, Abubakar Augie, said Lakurawa had raided villages in the area and stolen an unspecified number of cattle. The group opened fire at villagers who came out in large numbers to try to stop the assailants, killing at least 16, he said. A police source said the casualties died during an exchange of fire between local vigilantes and Lakurawa militants. It added that the identity of the victims was unknown and that the bodies had been delivered to a hospital. Kebbi police spokesperson Nafiu Abubakar confirmed the attack and said a statement would be released soon. In January, a federal court in Nigeria declared the Lakurawa group a terrorist organisation, a designation that will allow the military to use maximum force against it.
Voice of America
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
Surge in terror attacks in northern Nigeria raises analysts' concern
Security analysts in Nigeria are expressing alarm after a surge in attacks by terror groups in the country's north near the border with Niger. The deterioration of relations between Abuja and Niamey following Niger's July 2023 coup has disrupted joint military patrols, creating opportunities for armed groups to intensify incursions and attacks. Last Friday's killing of 20 soldiers, including a commanding officer, at a military base in the remote town of Malam Fatori is among the latest attacks by terror groups. Malam Fatori is located near Nigeria's border with Niger. Suspected fighters from the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) arrived in trucks outfitted with guns and overpowered Nigerian troops in a coordinated assault. That attack took place three weeks after a similar raid on a military base in nearby Damboa, in Borno state, where six soldiers were killed. On Sunday, Nigeria's defense authorities announced that 22 soldiers died during military operations against militants in Borno state between Jan. 16 and 25. They also said troops killed nearly 80 militants during those operations. Kabiru Adamu, an analyst with Beacon Security and Intelligence Limited, explained the growing challenge. "If the Nigerian military does not take steps to fortify those locations, we'd see attacks around that proximity increase. It appears to be that the objective of that particular attack is to weaken the response capability of the Nigerian military,' Adamu said. 'The fact that they did not fortify that place, the fact that they did not quickly replenish what was lost — we've seen consistently where churches are being burnt, military bases are being attacked." The terror threat is not limited to northeastern Nigeria. In the northwest, a new militant group called Lakurawa is wreaking havoc in remote communities and crossing the border into Niger. Nigerian authorities first raised the alarm about the group in November, stating it has ties to jihadist factions in Mali and Niger, and had embedded itself in communities along the Nigeria-Niger border for years, marrying local women and recruiting young men. Strained relations between Nigeria and Niger following the July 2023 coup have disrupted joint security operations, allowing groups like ISWAP and Lakurawa to expand their activities. Nigeria is already engaged in a protracted counterinsurgency war, and Adamu said the situation is becoming increasingly complex. "Lakurawa is a radicalized group and so the same counterterrorism approach that Nigeria is implementing in the northeast is what it will implement in the northwest,' Adamu said. 'But what this means is that there's a new theater of conflict — the northeast and the northwest. Given the fact that Nigerian military resources are strained, it poses a challenge." Security analyst Senator Iroegbu said the government must adopt a more proactive and comprehensive approach to addressing the insecurity. "The Sahel region, for two years or more, has been regarded as the epicenter of terrorism and Nigeria shares a lot of borders with the core Sahelian countries. So it's definitely a challenge now with the diplomatic spat that is affecting other areas of security and intelligence,' Iroegbu said. 'I'm not surprised about their emergence. In past years, there were reports about the growing linkage between bandits and what is happening in the northwest as terrorist organizations, and I don't think the authorities made any concrete effort." Last week, a federal court in Nigeria declared the Islamist Lakurawa group a terrorist organization, allowing the military to use maximum force against the group.
