UN seeks contact with Niger coup leaders after agencies barred from ‘operation zones’

Nigerien National Police officers stand guard as supporters of Niger’s National Council of Safeguard of the Homeland (CNSP) protest outside the Niger and French airbase in Niamey on 30 August 2023 to demand the departure of the French army from Niger.

• UN agencies and other organisations have been barred from
  working in military “operation zones” in Niger by the country’s new
  military leaders.
• The UN is seeking contact with the coup leaders to better
  understand the implications for humanitarian work in these areas.
• Niger is battling two jihadist insurgencies, and attacks
  have continued since the coup, including one that killed 17 troops near the
  Burkina Faso border.

The
United Nations said Friday it was seeking contact with Niger coup leaders after
they stopped its agencies and other organisations from working in military
“operation zones”.

“We’ve
seen the reports. We are reaching out to the de facto authorities in Niger to
better understand what this means and the implications for the humanitarian
work,” UN spokesperson Alessandra Vellucci told reporters in Geneva.

Her
comments came after Niger’s interior ministry late Thursday announced it was
stopping UN agencies, NGOs and international organisations from working in
military “operation zones”.

It
did not specify which regions were affected, but said the measures were
“due to the current security situation”.

It said:

Niger’s
new military leaders took power in a coup on 26 July, when troops ousted
President Mohamed Bazoum.

Among
the justifications they gave for unseating the democratically-elected leader
was the dire security situation in the landlocked former French colony in the
heart of the Sahel.

READ | Niger military regime strips French envoy of diplomatic immunity, tell police to throw him out

Niger
is battling two jihadist insurgencies – a spillover in southeastern Niger from
a long-running conflict in neighbouring Nigeria, and an offensive in the
southwest by militants crossing from Mali and Burkina Faso.

But
since the coup, the attacks have continued, including one near the Burkina Faso
border on 15 August that killed 17 troops.

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred

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