Niger suppresses dissent as US leads influx of foreign armies. By Ruth Maclean and Omar Hama Saley
When a group of heavily armed
men on motorbikes killed four American special ops soldiers in remote
Niger last October, it was the first many had heard of the war the US was
helping fight against a local
branch of Isis. But their involvement
in that fight represents only a fraction of the US presence in the west African
country, poor but strategically located in the middle of the Sahel, its borders
crisscrossed by extremists and traffickers.
And the 800 US defence
personnel in Niger are
not alone. They are one of four western armies that have installed themselves
in the vast desert landscape, variously flying armed drones, hunting militants,
building vast bases, controlling migration and collecting intelligence from the
region.
This is what the April
protest was about. Ibrahim Diori was
arrested at home, and Maïkou Zodi in his car, both charged with participation
in a banned demonstration and destruction of public property, even though they
were not present. Today, they are in jail awaiting trial, along with colleagues
arrested over previous marches.
The Nigerien
government allows foreign powers free rein to build military bases and send
soldiers to defend their interests in the region, while suppressing any
dissent, according to those civil society leaders not in jail, and key
opposition figures. “Today there’s terrible
repression of those who are against the government line. They put seven of my
colleagues in prison because we said no to foreign bases,” said Mariama Bayard,
leader of the opposition. She said that the government was “illegitimate”
because the main challenger, Hama Amadou, was in jail at the time of the last
election, and that it was being propped up by foreigners in the absence of
domestic support.
“Dictatorship is
taking hold of this country. The people don’t want the bases. But the Sahel has
become an important geo-strategic space for the great powers,” she said. According to Bayard,
foreign powers do not have permission to build bases in their country. “Our constitution says
that before a base can be installed, parliament has to accept it. It’s a deal
between the government and these foreign powers. It’s illegal, the bases are
illegal.”.. read more:
