Gunmen riding motorcycles killed 58 people and injured one as a group of civilians were returning home from the market in Banibangou, on March 15, 2021.
The attackers fired guns on the people returning home from the livestock market located near Niger’s border with Mali in the Tillaberi region. Six of the victims were children aged 11-17. The authorities suspect that the culprits are extremists from the Islamic State who belong to the Greater Sahara group, though the latter have not yet claimed responsibility. The terrorists also damaged nearby granaries that stored food.
Unfortunately, this recent attack is yet another on civilians in Tillaberi. In January, jihadists killed 100 people when they attacked the villages of Tchoma, killing over 70 people and Zaroumadareye, where 30 were left dead, which are 7 km away from each other. Here, motorcycles were also used to carry out the attacks. Previously, over 70 people had been killed in December 2019 and about 90 in January 2020.
The Tillaberi region is the location of intense activity by jihadist groups as it is situated in the so-called tri-border area where three frontiers – those of Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali –cross. However, it is not only terrorists who are active there as counter-terrorism operations against the Islamic State have resulted in the emergence of ethnic militias.
In response to the attacks, the authorities banned travel by motorcycles in Tillaberi last January but this failed to prevent further atrocities. The region has been the scene of barbaric bloodshed for many years and represents a tremendous security challenge for Niger’s administration. The UN condemned the attacks and Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, expressed his hope that the terrorists would be caught and punished. His spokesperson asked Nigerien authorities “to spare no effort in bringing the perpetrators to justice.”
Furthermore, Niger is not only struggling with an external wave of violence but it is also the scene of brutal attacks on forcibly displaced refugees from neighboring Nigeria. The Maradi region is home to about 100,000 displaced people with 77,000 Nigerian among them, the latter fled from Katsina, Sokoto, and Zamfara states where they had experienced communal clashes of armed groups. Sadly, Niger, the country where they sought shelter, has not turned out to be the safe haven they had hoped for. The UNHCR has reported that refugees are often victims of murder, kidnapping, ransom, and looting. The UN agency also noticed that some of the newcomers became involved in clashes with local farmers and herders having established their own self-defense groups. The number of such incidents spiked significantly in January and February 2021. In cooperation with the government, the UN is aiming to relocate refugees to more peaceful areas.
