How coups in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have further destabilized Africa’s Sahel belt

Special How coups in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have further destabilized Africa’s Sahel belt
The number of migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa has surged since July’s coup in Niger. (AFP)
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Updated 06 October 2023
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How coups in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have further destabilized Africa’s Sahel belt

How coups in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have further destabilized Africa’s Sahel belt
  • Collapse of EU-Niger cooperation has caused a sharp rise in migrants crossing the Mediterranean
  • Latest deadly ambush of troops makes Niger look like the new soft underbelly of Sahel

TUNIS: North African states have seen an uptick in the number of migrants arriving and risking the perilous Mediterranean crossing to Southern Europe since a military coup in Niger severed cooperation between the West African nation and the EU.

Migration emanating from the Sahel, a belt of nations stretching from Mali in the west to Sudan in the east, has had major repercussions for Arab countries including Libya and Algeria, where gangs of smugglers are exploiting the crisis.

Following the coup in Niger in July, analysts say there has been a notable transformation in the latitude afforded people smugglers, who appear to be operating with a heightened sense of impunity in the region.

“Smugglers have found alternative routes and methods to cross into the country,” an expert on migration and illicit economies in North Africa and the Sahel told Arab News.




The EU had planned to allocate $200 million in assistance to Niger to address the country’s various security challenges. (AFP)

“The new Nigerien authorities seem to tolerate these bypass routes, enabling migrants to continue their journey to Algeria and Libya.”

The Nigerien crisis began in late July when the country’s presidential guard mounted a coup against President Mohamed Bazoum, replacing him with their own commander, Abdourahamane Tchiani.

Niger was swept up in a spate of military coups that began in 2020 and has since toppled governments in Mali and Burkina Faso. The takeovers were partly driven by frustrations among the military and citizens over lack of security in their countries. But violence has soared as the juntas kick out foreign troops that were previously helping to fight militants, and UN peacekeepers begin to leave.

All three countries are battling militants who have killed thousands and displaced more than 2 million people in the Sahel region. Despite signing a security pact last month promising to defend each other against rebels or aggressors, at least 29 Nigerien soldiers were recently killed in a reported ambush near the country’s border with Mali. According to one estimate, Daesh militants slaughered about 100 Nigerien soldiers in multiple attacks over five days.

Violent extremists, many with links to Al-Qaeda and Daesh, have grown particularly active in the “three-borders” area since French and UN troops departed from southeast Mali, ending vital air reconnaissance support.

Niger has long been used by migrants aiming to reach North Africa as a jumping off point for Europe. Bazoum’s government had been working with the EU to help control the flow of migrants, and with the UN to facilitate their return.




The Nigerien crisis began in late July when the country’s presidential guard mounted a coup against President Mohamed Bazoum. (AFP)

In exchange for its cooperation, the EU had planned to allocate $200 million in assistance to Niger to address the country’s various security challenges.

“Some migrants were moving through Niger due to its relatively open borders compared with neighboring countries, which had their own conflicts, mainly with terrorists,” Aneliese Bernard, an independent consultant working in the fields of stabilization and counterinsurgency in West Africa, told Arab News.

However, the EU’s decision to halt cooperation with Niger’s new rulers in the wake of the coup has raised fears over threats to regional security, uncontrolled migration flows, and the possibility of more drownings in the Mediterranean.

As stated already, there has been a sharp rise in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, with more than 12,000 people arriving on the Italian island of Lampedusa in a single week.

With a population of approximately 6,000, Lampedusa’s local authorities have declared a state of emergency.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen rushed to the island to discuss the migrant crisis, with Meloni calling for an EU mission to block boats carrying migrants across the Mediterranean.

Experts have questioned the effectiveness of the European approach to the migration challenge.

INNUMBERS

• 43% Increase in violent events in Niger during 2022. (Africa Center for Strategic Studies)

• 10m People in Niger, representing 41.8% of the population, living in extreme poverty in 2021.

• $2bn Official development assistance provided to Niger per year.

Source: World Bank

Mukesh Kapila, a senior humanitarian activist previously with the UN, who recently visited refugee camps in Greece, pointed out that many people migrate for economic reasons, and are not refugees as defined in the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.

Every economic migrant who is not deported from the EU blocks the space for an individual who genuinely qualifies for protection.

“This shows that the EU migration and asylum systems are overwhelmed,” Kapila told Arab News. “They are simply not working.”

“(Before the Niger coup) the same military leaders who grabbed the power had effectively implemented the EU’s anti-migration policy in Niger. Now, they might be abandoning it,” Kerem Schamberger, an expert on migration issues at the German human rights organization Medico International, told Arab News.

Moreover, there has been a discernible relaxation of restrictions at checkpoints for migrants en route to northern Niger. This stands in stark contrast with the pre-coup environment, where migrants encountered substantial obstacles and stringent controls.

Schamberger highlights the consequences of the anti-migration legislation, known as Law 36-2015, which made it illegal for migrants to travel from southern Niger to the north.




Supporters of Niger’s CNSP protest outside the Niger and French airbase in Niamey. (AFP)

“This law made migration routes through the Sahara Desert more perilous as migrants were forced to take dangerous routes through the desert without adequate protection, leading to a significant increase in deaths due to thirst and starvation.”

Beatrice Bianchi, a Sahel expert with the Italy-based Med-Or Leonardo Foundation, said that if the government of Niger were to repeal Law 36-2015, “it could have an immediate impact on migration cooperation with Europe.”

She told Arab News: “Repealing this law would likely lead to a resurgence of the original migration routes through (Niger’s) Agadez, potentially increasing the number of migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean.”

Niger’s pre-coup government was not a completely reliable partner, however.

While it played a central role in the EU anti-migration strategy in the West African region and received large sums of money as development aid, “there has been a significant disconnect between this funding and its actual impact on the ground, with people accusing the government of stealing those funds,” said Schamberger.

“In the eyes of many, the funds seemed to flow into the pockets of influential politicians, the military, and economic elites, rather than supporting the local economy or the people.”

And this is not the first time that allegations have emerged about EU funds, provided in exchange for help on the migration issue, being misused by recipient nations.

In 2019, The Associated Press news agency reported that EU funds given to Libya to stem migration were frequently stolen or misappropriated.

From 2016 to 2018, the EU allocated more than $200 million in funding to Sudan, resulting in migrants being forced to take increasingly dangerous routes out of the country, according to a 2018 report by the New Humanitarian.




General Abdourahamane Tiani speaks on national television in Niger after the ouster of President-elect Mohamed Bazoum. (Télé Sahel/AFP)

The UN’s International Organization for Migration, or IOM, says that border closures and airspace restrictions resulting from the coup have placed hundreds of thousands of migrants and displaced persons at risk.

The closure of land borders by Niger’s neighbors in response to the coup provided a temporary break in the flow of migration.

Despite these measures, Schamberger says “migration from Niger to Algeria and Libya never completely ceased, even with the anti-migration law in place.”

He added: “The routes through the Sahara, however, became increasingly dangerous for migrants while Algeria continued its policy of deporting migrants to Niger. This policy led to a growing number of migrants returning to the city of Agadez through the border crossing point of Assamaka, exacerbating the city’s already crowded conditions.”

Against this backdrop, the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, sought support from EU foreign ministers at an informal meeting in Toledo, Spain, at the end of August.

ECOWAS has reacted to the Niger coup by imposing sanctions on the junta leaders and threatening to use military force if they fail to restore constitutional order.

Support from European powers for ECOWAS appears unlikely, however, with France announcing that it will end its military presence in Niger by the end of 2023.




Niger junta’s supporters hold rally to demand the French army leave. (Reuters)

Following the reported deadly ambush of troops in Niger, the country is being viewed as the new soft underbelly of the Sahel region as well as a major impediment to the implementation of the EU’s migration strategy.

“The EU has been working toward preventing the small fraction of the overall big number of migrants from reaching its borders for the past eight to 10 years, while the majority of African migration is internal,” Franck Duvell, a senior researcher at the University of Osnabruck in Germany, told Arab News.

Diplomatic sources say the EU has been evaluating the establishment of a search-and-rescue area in Tunisian waters to enhance its ability to manage and coordinate rescue operations at sea.

Duvell added: “The cooperation with Tunisia and Niger reflects the EU’s broader strategy of externalizing migration controls beyond its borders.”


Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country

Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country
Updated 57 min 27 sec ago
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Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country

Israel bars UN secretary-general Guterres from entering country
  • Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday

NEW YORK CITY: Israel’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that he was barring UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering the country because he had not “unequivocally” condemned Iran’s missile attack on Israel.
Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel on Tuesday amid an escalation in fighting between Israel and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah. Many were intercepted in flight but some penetrated missile defenses.
Guterres on Tuesday issued a brief statement after the missile attack condemning “the broadening of the Middle East conflict, with escalation after escalation.” Earlier on Tuesday, Israel had sent troops into southern Lebanon.
Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz said Guterres’ failure to call out Iran made him persona non grata in Israel.
“Anyone who cannot unequivocally condemn Iran’s heinous attack on Israel, as nearly all the countries of the world have done, does not deserve to set foot on Israeli soil,” Katz said.
“Israel will continue to defend its citizens and uphold its national dignity, with or without Antonio Guterres.”
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric described the announcement as political and “just one one more attack, so to speak, on UN staff that we’ve seen from the government of Israel.” He said the UN traditionally does not recognize the concept of persona non grata as applying to UN staff.
During a Security Council meeting on Wednesday Guterres said: “As I did in relation to the Iranian attack in April — and as should have been obvious yesterday in the context of the condemnation I expressed — I again strongly condemn yesterday’s massive missile attack by Iran on Israel.”


Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day

Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day
Updated 02 October 2024
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Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day

Firefighters battle deadly Greece wildfire for fourth day
  • Nearly 600 firefighters with 160 fire engines and 24 aircraft were deployed in the mountains above the Gulf of Corinth
  • Three water bombers from Italy and Croatia have been sent to help

ATHENS: Hundreds of Greek firefighters battled for the fourth day Wednesday to control a wildfire in the Peloponnese region that has killed two people and burned huge swathes of forest.
Nearly 600 firefighters with 160 fire engines and 24 aircraft were deployed in the mountains above the Gulf of Corinth, where the fire broke out Sunday.
A dozen villages have been evacuated and two men who were helping firefighters became trapped and died in the flames. Three firefighters were also hurt.
Three water bombers from Italy and Croatia have been sent to help.
Government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told an Athens radio station it was “a difficult fire” but authorities aimed “to have a full de-escalation in the disparate pockets (of fire) still burning today.”
The Athens national observatory said that according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate observatory, the fire has burned 6,500 hectares (16,000 acres) of forest and farmland.
A preliminary investigation suggested it may have been caused by a beekeeper smoking honey bees, officials said.
Another fire on Wednesday broke out nearby, in Kalavryta, but had been partially controlled, the fire department said. It added that more than 40 rural fires had been reported in 24 hours.


Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion

Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion
Updated 02 October 2024
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Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion

Russia rules out nuclear talks with US given its stance on NATO expansion
  • “We see no point in dialogue with Washington without respect for Russia’s fundamental interests,” Zakharova said

MOSCOW: Russia has dismissed the possibility of nuclear talks with the United States citing Washington’s stance on NATO expansion, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
“We see no point in dialogue with Washington without respect for Russia’s fundamental interests. First of all, this is the problem of NATO’s expansion into the post-soviet space, which poses threats to common security,” Zakharova said.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia will not discuss signing a new treaty with the United States to replace an agreement limiting each side’s strategic nuclear weapons that expires in 2026 as it needs to be broadened and expanded to cover other states.


Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs

Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs
Updated 02 October 2024
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Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs

Ukraine probes allegations Russia killed 16 POWs
  • “This is the largest known case of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war on the front line,” Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin said
  • The probe — into allegations of the “violation of laws and customs of war” and “premeditated murder” — was launched based on videos shared on social media

KYIV: Ukraine is probing allegations the Russian army shot dead 16 prisoners of war near the eastern city of Pokrovsk, Kyiv’s prosecutor general said Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of killing POWs since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“This is the largest known case of the execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war on the front line,” Ukrainian prosecutor general Andriy Kostin said in a statement.
Kostin said the alleged incident showed that the “killing and torture of prisoners is not an accident but a deliberate policy of the Russian military and political leadership.”
The probe — into allegations of the “violation of laws and customs of war” and “premeditated murder” — was launched based on videos shared on social media that appeared to show the execution of Ukrainian soldiers, Kostin said.
Video images captured by a drone showed captured Ukrainian troops, under Russian control, coming out from a wooded area and lining up, Ukraine’s prosecutors said.
The Russians then “deliberately opened fire with deadly force,” Kyiv said.
Those still showing “signs of life” were then “finished off at close range with automatic fire.”
AFP could not independently verify the reports.
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said Tuesday that “measures are currently being taken to verify the published material.”
The alleged incident was reported to have taken place close to the villages of Sukhiyi Yar and Mykolayivka near Pokrovsk, a strategic hub that Russia is trying to capture.
It is the latest allegation of POWs being killed during the conflict.
In March 2023 a video showing an imprisoned Ukrainian soldier shouting “Glory to Ukraine!” moments before being executed by shooting squad, went viral.
The UN has documented “numerous violations of international humanitarian law against prisoners of war, including cases of summary execution of both Russian and Ukrainian POWs,” a spokeswoman for the UN Human Rights Office told AFP last year.


Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon

Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon
Updated 02 October 2024
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Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon

Philippines struggles to repatriate workers as Israel invades Lebanon
  • Dozens of Filipinos sought shelter at the Philippine government’s Migrant Workers Office in Beirut
  • Authorities in Manila seek charter flights, sea and land routes to evacuate nationals from Lebanon

MANILA: The Philippines is trying to arrange flights for hundreds of overseas Filipino workers in Beirut, the government said Wednesday, as it struggles to bring them to safety in the wake of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.

More than 11,000 Filipinos are living and working in Lebanon, which has faced a series of Israeli attacks that began in mid-September, with pagers exploding at shops and hospitals around the country, followed by relentless bombing targeting densely populated areas.

Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 people across Lebanon and wounded nearly 3,000, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.

The UN estimates that more than a million people across the country have been displaced by the strikes, with the numbers expected to rise as Israel also launched its ground invasion of Lebanon on Tuesday.

Dozens of Filipinos in Beirut have sought shelter at the Philippine government’s Migrant Workers Office. As its vicinity was bombed by Israeli forces over the weekend, they have since been sheltered in a hotel in Beit Mery, a town overlooking Beirut, as they await repatriation.

“There are presently 101 Filipino workers in our shelters ready to be repatriated,” DMW Undersecretary Bernard Olalia told reporters in Manila.

“The challenge is that we do not have flights … We’re talking to some airline companies so that the chartered flights will be able to accommodate for example no less than 300 overseas Filipino workers from Beirut.”

Olalia said that while the government was facing several challenges, including securing landing rights for chartered flights, other options were also being considered in case the situation escalated.

“The DMW is also studying the possibility of other routes. Apart from the air route, we will be assessing the sea and the land route, should … the situation there worsen,” he said.

“We have men on the ground. They work around the clock. And we augmented our staff both in Lebanon (and) nearby posts to be able to provide (the) safest route to evacuate and ultimately to facilitate the repatriation of our OFWs.”

Migrante International, a global alliance of overseas Filipino workers, told Arab News on Tuesday that the Philippine nationals it has been in touch with have expressed “urgent concern” for their safety.

“They are worried about the bombings and the explosions coming closer to their homes, in their communities. So, they are worried for their safety, they are worried for their life and not being able to go back home safely to their families,” Migrante International President Joanna Concepcion said.

“They feel there is nowhere safe anymore. They feel that Israel can target anywhere, anytime.”